Life Goes On
by Summer Sweetheart
Summary: For those of you who like family fics, this is for you! After the war, the gaang decides to settle down and start families. I suck at explaining things, so just read this! Kataang, Sukka, Toru, hints of Maiko. Small story edits happening now and again.
1. Introduction

**EDIT May 26****th****, 2008:**

After reading over the intro, I've noticed a few errors as, and it really needed to be edited. It's still the same thing, but hopefully, it's better than before, though I've just made a few corrections. I'll still have my author's notes up here because… I want them up here. So anyway, enjoy the re-write (that's not much of a re-write. More of an edited version)!

**New Edit: October 3****rd****, 2008**

**Okay, since the finale, this has been bugging me. I was almost sure that Ozai, Azula and Iroh were gonna die, which is why I killed them off. While I'm happy that no one was killed in the battle, I realized that this intro has some inaccurate information. While I know that this doesn't have to be true to the finale, my OCD isn't leaving me alone with this, so I'm going to edit this one last time!**

Okay. Before you start reading, I got lots to say! First off, if you've read my profile page (I don't think anyone really reads those though…), you'll find out why this took so long… I'm 19 years old, about to continue with college, I'm volunteering, babysitting sometimes, and I have other responsibilities as well. I know what I have now isn't much (at all), but I really wanted to get started on this story before I went back to school. What this part is, is basically the introduction to the prologue, if that makes any sense to you. I just want to let you all know when and where I'll be starting off this story. I have a two-part prologue planned after this, and then I'll pick up the speed a tad. Yes, this will probably be slow at the beginning, but just give it time. I don't wanna make the same mistake I made in my last story. So just read this first little part. I'll give you fair warning that you may have to wait some time between chapters. I'm sorry, but my college education, my volunteering job, my babysitting, and family responsibilities have to come first. If you have a problem with that, send me a message. In case you're saying 'why are you putting this up if you're not gonna update for a while?' I just really wanna finally put this up. Well, better late than never I guess. Okay. I won't keep you waiting any longer. After I say the disclaimer, then… well… read!

**Disclaimer**: My name's not Bryan or Mike… Do you really think I own Avatar?

Sozin's Comet has come and gone. The 100-year old war was over. Fire Lord Ozai was stripped of his bending, and Azula had also been defeated. The surviving warriors and soldiers were finally able to return home, while the families of the not-so-lucky ones mourned over their losses.

The Fire Nation capital was currently being rebuilt, as was the palace, both by the order of Fire Lord Zuko. After his coronation, he had gone to his father and demand to know where his mother was being kept. He then journeyed to Ba Sing Se with his Uncle and the rest of the group and finally was reunited with his long-lost mother, Ursa. A few months later, Zuko and Mai were married at the Fire Nation Palace. Finally, Zuko was able to settle down and start a new life with his wife, and his mother and uncle at his side. Peace had finally been brought back to the world, thanks to the help of the Avatar and his friends.

The citizens of the Fire Nation seem a lot happier without anymore of Ozai's propaganda around, and most families went back to their everyday lives, enjoying their freedom, while other families wouldn't let go of the past, and continued to live in fear of another war.

Slowly but surely, after numerous meetings, signing countless peace treaties, and many, many negotiations, the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes began to trust the Fire Nation again, and have accepted trades of food, building material, and other necessities the Fire Nation have taken from them over the past 100 years.

For almost two years after Ozai's defeat, many cities in all parts of the globe have been requesting an audience with the Avatar. Aang and his friends were kept on their toes, attending meetings with representatives from each nation, going over contracts, or settling disputes between trade agreements, barely having enough time to rest with their constant traveling. Finally, things have been slowing down leaving Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph to decide what to do next. Katara stated that she wouldn't leave Aang, and that wherever he goes, she goes. Sokka said that he would also stay to protect his sister. Toph, on the other hand, brought up the fact that she joined Aang to teach him earthbending and to aid in the defeat of the Fire Lord, but since that was all over, there was no more reason for Toph to stay with her friends, saying that it was time for her to stop putting off the inevitable and go home to confront her parents; so they loaded everything up on Appa and headed a course towards Gaoling.

**Okay, I've only made a few changes about what happened to Iroh, Azula and Iroh, since I first had them dead. I couldn't find a good spot to put these in, but I just thought I should let you know (I've mentioned this in my Author's Notes chapter, but I'm just gonna say it in case you haven't read it or forgot or whatever), Iroh still works at the teashop in Ba Sing Se, so he's making a living there, though he does visit Zuko, Mai and Ursa every once in a while, and vise-versa. Also, as you know, Suki was traveling with Aang and everyone else at the end of the series. It'll be hard to write her in, so we'll just say that she went back to Kyoshi while everyone else went and sighed treaties, attended meetings, etc. Okay. That's all for now!**

Hope you liked it. Yes. It was too short for your liking, but that's basically all I have. I've been working on part one of the prologue, and I'm not too far into it, but I'm not making that very long either. I'll try to get it up before I start school on August 20th, but don't quote me on that. Please review with any ideas you may have (though I dunno if you know of my plans for later), and I may take some into consideration. Thanks for being so patient with me and for understanding that my life is hectic… _And_ to top it all off, I forgot to mention earlier, my computer's being stupid, so just add that to the ridiculously long list of reasons why the next part should take forever._ –Sigh-_


	2. Prologue Part 1

**Updated: September 29****th****-October 1****st**** 2008 **

Wow. Got this done a lot quicker than I thought! This is part one of the two-part prologue I've discussed with you all quite a few times (if you've been reading my profile). In case you missed it in the introduction, about two years have passed since they left the South Pole, so we'll say that they're two years older. (In case you either really suck at math, or have no idea how old the 'gaang' is, Aang and Toph are 14, Katara's 16, and Sokka's 17. Yes, Sokka's one year older than Katara. Not two years older, as most people think). Just one last thing: There is one part where Toph is a little OOC, though it's just for a moment… So, I think that's all I need to say till the end of this part, where I'll tell you all what's gonna happen in the final part of the prologue…

And I'd like to thank daydream11, my _wonderful_ beta reader for proof-reading and editing this for me!

* * *

**Disclaimer:** Okay, this is a FAN Fiction… Not 'Creator' Fiction. _Fan_ Fiction.

"Well Toph," Aang said after landing Appa just outside Bei Fong Estate, "here we are. Are you ready?"

Toph took a deep breath before nodding. Aang then helped his blind friend off of the bison and stood next to Appa as he watched Toph walk just few steps, before turning around to Aang, Katara and Sokka. "A-aren't you coming with me?" She asked apprehensively.

"We thought you wanted to do this by yourself," Sokka said, remembering what Toph had said to them earlier about how she wanted to face her parents alone.

"Well, I changed my mind!" she snapped back. "Please come with me? I need to talk to my parents, and I'd like you three to be there when I do."

Katara looked at Sokka, silently asking of her brother's opinion. He gave a short nod as he stood up, carefully stepping down from the bison as Katara did the same

Together, the four walked up to the front gates where the Bei Fong's stood, awaiting their daughter. As the gates began to open, Lady Bei Fong pushed through the half-opened gates and threw herself around Toph's neck, sobbing into her shoulder as the blind girl rolled her eyes.

"Mom," Toph tried pushing her mother off of her, but she wouldn't let go, "I know you missed me, but could you _please_ let go of my neck?" With a sigh of relief, her mother had finally released her and straightened up next to her husband.

Lao Bei Fong leaned in towards the other three and spoke in a deadly quiet voice. "You have a lot of nerve to come back here," he said. "You come along, kidnap my only daughter, and come back and return her years later, and you just think that we can go back to the way things were? If that's what you think, then I must say you are sadly mistaken."

Neither Aang, nor Katara, nor Sokka knew what to say. Of course, they all knew that she had run away, but would her parents really believe them? Luckily, Toph spoke up before the situation became too uncomfortable.

"Dad, no," she said, looking at the ground with her sightless eyes. "Aang didn't kidnap me... I-I ran away."

Both Lord and Lady Bei Fong looked unbelievingly at the blind girl, then back to Aang, Sokka, and Katara before Lao broke the silence. "Why don't we go inside and talk?" he suggested, turning his back on the others, and leading them inside.

After entering the main room, the six took their seats around a long coffee table. "Okay Toph," Lao said after his daughter and her friends sat down. "Explain."

Toph sighed before going on. "It's what I _told_ you before I left: I'm not the tiny, fragile, helpless little blind girl who you thought I was. I love fighting. I love earthbending, and I'm considered _one of_ the best, if not _the_ best at it. Aang needed an earthbending teacher, and he knew that I was the one who had to teach him." Her parents looked shocked. "I know this is not what you were expecting, but this is who I am; who I _really_ am." She waited for one of her parents to say something, but they stayed silent, not taking their eyes off their daughter, so Toph went on.

"Traveling the world has been the greatest experience of my life. Even though I couldn't exactly 'see' everything, especially when we were up in the air, I was able to sense most of everything with my bending, and it was all amazing!" Toph suddenly looked saddened. "But we're done now. The Fire Lord has been defeated. The war's over, so there's no reason for me to travel anymore… I-I wanna come home." She felt their heartbeats through the vibrations on the floor. She could tell that they are having trouble taking in this story. Again, she waited for someone to say something. Finally, after one solid minute, her mother spoke.

"Toph," she said, "I-I had _no_ idea... Why would you run away? After the life we gave you? After everything your father and I have done for you..."

"All you two did was hire people to guard me night and day, having someone following my every move; you've been overprotecting me since the day I was born. The truth is… I just wasn't _happy_ here."

Lady Bei Fong looked devastated. She had no idea that Toph was unhappy. All she ever wanted was for her _disabled_ daughter to get the best care, and have her live a nice, wealthy life, and have everything she'd ever need. Not for one second did she ever think that Toph was unhappy... She was a horrible person—a horrible mother. It was no wonder why Toph had left… But she had said that she wanted to come back home.

"But… but you said that… you want to come home," she said, repeating her thoughts.

"If you promise to give me more freedom around here," Toph said. Planting her feet more firmly on the floor, she tried to see if she could tell, by her parent's heartbeats, or other vibrations, what they were thinking. It seemed as though they _still_ thought she was a helpless little blind girl, and that she still needed to be watched every second of every day. "Come on Mom, Dad. I've traveled around the world and I'm okay. I think I can handle myself when I'm sheltered like this." Toph rolled her eyes.

Poppy sighed and turned to her husband who hesitated a second before nodding. "Alright," he whispered, "we will give you more freedom."

Toph smiled, but her happiness was short-lived when her father spoke again.

"_But_ don't think that this means you can do anything you want to. There will be rules you'll still have to follow…"

Toph sighed. She should've seen this coming

"You are_ not _to leave this house without my or your mother's permission, nor will you stray too far, you will not go out and earthbend whenever you want, since you will always have supervision, and there will be_ no more fighting_ in these tournaments. Do I make myself clear?"

Toph kept her jaw from opening as her brain interpreted what her father had just. She could live without fighting in the Earth Rumble competitions; now, someone different may have a chance to become champion, but not being allowed to be out on the earth, where she could see best, alone? What good will it do if someone was watching her, when she could hear or feel danger, long before anyone else could see it? Toph wanted to just get up and walk away, but something stopped her. It was a small voice in the back of her mind speaking. _'Would you _really_ leave your parents just because they want to keep you safe? It's not like they're absolutely _forbidding_ you from earthbending. Just give them a chance. Maybe, with time, they'll change.'_

Katara, Aang, Sokka, and Toph's parents all stared, waiting for the blind girl to speak. Toph looked down and took a deep breath, before looking back up, staring straight ahead, not knowing what or who she was looking at. Her pale eyes were glossy, as if she were going to cry. The earthbender couldn't believe she was going to agree to this, but she had to make peace with her parents, otherwise, it just wouldn't be right.

"Okay," she finally said quietly, keeping her voice steady. "I'll do it." She then spoke a little louder. "I won't leave the house without your consent, I won't wander off, I won't fight in any more tournaments, and… I won't go out to earthbend without someone watching my _every_. _Single_. _Move_," she emphasized the last three words, clearly showing how much she would hate this.

Still, Aang, Katara, and Sokka stayed silent, as they have since they arrived in the main room.

"Very well," Lao spoke quietly, and nodded as he and his wife stood. The four teens followed their leads and also got to their feet and followed as Lao and his wife had led the group back outside.

"Well, I guess this is it." Aang said, turning to Toph, who nodded.

"Guess so…"

"We'll really miss you, Toph." Katara said.

"Yeah," Sokka said softly.

"Thank you," Toph said, "for everything."

The four just stood there for a few seconds, savoring their last moments together, forgetting that Toph's parents were even around. Then the four moved in for one last group hug. After a minute or two, they finally broke away from their embrace.

"Don't worry," the blind earthbender said softly, smiling to her friends. "You'll see me again someday."

The other three smiled back at her, unsure about what to say.

Katara was the first one to find her voice. "Well, goodbye." She said, quickly embracing her friend once more before stepping back.

Sokka and Aang also shared a quick hug with Toph, before Momo flew onto her shoulder, nuzzling her cheek in farewell, and even Appa moved in a little closer. Finally, it was time for Aang and his friends to leave. After another quick goodbye, the three climbed up onto Appa and flew away into the afternoon sky.

* * *

**Yeah, I like this edited version a lot better than the original. I would ask what you thought, but some of you either haven't read it in a very long time, or never read it, but trust me. It's better!**

Hehe. Yeah. I dunno what Toph's mother's name is, so I just called her Lady Bei Fong… **(Update: now I know her name! ) **So anyway, what did you think? Kinda sickening? Too cliché? Yeah, yeah, I think so too! But maybe I like sickening and cliché things! Anyway, the next stop for our 'heroes' is back to the South Pole for a reunion, and a surprise! Please review. And once again, I'd like to thank daydream11 for beta reading this! Thanks! –Huggles- Anyway, give me your opinions! Constructive criticism's okay! Flames aren't…


	3. Prologue Part 2

**Edit: October 1****st****-October 4th, 2008**

This is the second and final part of the prologue. After this, then the _real_ story begins! Anyway, I've noticed that on the intro and part one, there have been quite a few page views, yet no reviews. Now, I don't see the point in continuing this story if no one reviews. I'm only asking for one or two reviews. Just take a minute and lemme know what you think! (But flamers will be… flamed!) Um, also, just for the sake of the story, I'm gonna have Hakoda (Sokka and Katara's father in case you didn't know) the leader of the Tribe. I dunno if that's true or not (he _does_ lead the men in the war… I think). Just saying! **(I know now that Hakoda is the leader of the Water Tribe warriors, so I'm also guessing that he's the leader of the tribe.)**

**Disclaimer:** Do I _really_ need to say it _every_ time?

* * *

It took a little over a week for Aang, Katara, and Sokka to make it back to the South Pole. Katara and Sokka were excited, to say the least, as they haven't been home in such a long time.

The excitement Sokka felt was nothing compared to Katara's. For the past half hour, she had been leaning excitedly over Appa's saddle, waiting to catch a glimpse of the Southern Water Tribe, greatly annoying Aang by asking how much longer it would take to get back to the village.

"Hey, Aang—"

"For the _last_ time Katara," Aang said in an annoyed tone, "we'll be there in about twenty minutes!" Honestly, he had had enough.

Katara sighed. "No Aang, that's not what I wanted to ask this time. I just wanted to know… what we're going to be doing later on…"

"What do you mean?" Aang asked as his eyebrows wrinkled together in confusion.

"I mean, how long are we staying in the South Pole? Are we gonna travel some more, or what? We were traveling because we needed to help you master the elements and defeat Ozai. Now that that's over, what more is there to _do_?"

"Hm…" Aang thought for a few moments. "I don't know… I never really thought much about it." He answered truthfully. "The plan was to first drop Toph off in Gaoling, then head to the South Pole. I mean, it's come up, but never seriously. I guess we'll just have to go along with whatever happens…"

Katara sat back into the saddle, biting her lip with a look of worry and concentration settled on her features.

About 20 or so minutes later, the Southern Water Tribe came into view. But what the three saw made their jaws drop: The village was nothing like they had left it. It was a beautiful city made from ice and snow, somewhat resembling the Northern Water Tribe. Dozens of buildings sat in neat rows, the weak afternoon sun reflecting off of the roof-tops, making the whole city sparkle. They noticed many people were out and about, not noticing the giant fluffy flying monster just overhead.

"Wow," Katara gasped, "it's _beautiful_!"

That was an understatement, for sure. The entire city was spread out for many miles, and she had noted a small harbor right next to the ocean, not too far outside the city.

"Looks like Master Pakku and the others really did a job on this place!" Sokka commented. "It really came together."

"Yeah, I'll say!" Aang added, his eyes wide with pleasant disbelief.

"Is it me, or does the village seem a little more… I dunno… crowded?" Sokka asked.

"Well," Katara said, "it seems as though there are a lot more people there. Many people left with Master Pakku a couple years ago, and also, now that the war is over, the men are back with their wives, and I have no doubt in my mind that they were- and probably still are- making up for lost time."

Aang landed Appa in a clearing right in the middle of the city. Immediately, the citizens of the Southern Water Tribe gathered around the giant beast, cheering. Before disembarking from Appa, Katara looked through the crowd for a few familiar faces. Moving their way to the front of the crowd were Hakoda, Pakku, and Kana, each with a wide smile on their faces. Katara smiled herself before jumping off of Appa after her brother and Aang.

By the time she ran to her family, Sokka already had his arms tight around his father.

"Gran-gran!" Katara cried as she threw her arms around her grandmother's neck. When the two finally broke apart, Katara glanced back over at Aang who was kneeling down in front of the children, with Momo perched on his arm as a few of the kids went up to pet the lemur. Katara smiled. Aang was great with children.

After a short reunion with her father, and step-grandfather, Katara went over to the group of children gathered around the Avatar.

Sokka watched as the airbender and his sister played with the younger children. They would make great parents someday. _'Though not someday soon.'_ He said to himself. He soon became interested in the new sights. They had landed right in front of the residential area of the city. As he began to wonder where he, Katara and Aang would be staying, someone had come up from behind him, pushing him onto the snowy ground.

"What the—" he was confused as to what had just happened. He lifted his head to the sound of giggling. _'Wait,' _Sokka thought, '_I know that laugh…'_ Pushing himself into a sitting position, his blue eyes locked with green. "Suki!" Sokka shouted. The Kyoshi Warrior then gave her boyfriend a hand to help him up before throwing herself into his arms.

"Sokka," Suki yelled as she stood up, "it's so good to see you!"

Sokka smiled, staring at the young woman before him. Suki was no longer wearing her Warrior uniform. Instead, she wore a blue parka with fur on the sleeves and hood; not unlike his sisters'. Her brown hair was down, and a lot longer; now reaching below her shoulders. Lastly, her face was no longer covered in warrior's paint, showing off her flawless skin. If it weren't for her pale complexion and green eyes, she could surely pass for a native.

"Like it?" Suki giggled again, noticing how red Sokka's face had become.

Sokka blinked a few times before snapping out of the hypnotism of Suki's beauty. "Uh, yeah, you look… _wow!_" The young warrior tried to find the right words, but that was all he could say.

"Um, so… what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Well, I heard that you were supposed to be coming back sometime this week, so I left Kyoshi and decided to wait here for you!" she said, still smiling wide. "Your family has been so good to me. They gave me these clothes, and they've been nothing but nice to me."

"Hm… I guess they like you." Sokka said more to himself than anyone else, happy to hear that she and his family got along pretty well.

"Guess so…" Suki shrugged, not thinking too much into the future.

"Well," he smiled, "that's not necessarily a bad thing." He winked at Suki before pulling her into his arms, giving her a passionate kiss.

* * *

Later that night, a feast was held in the banquet hall to celebrate the return of the Avatar and the village leader's children.

Katara had taken a seat, looking around the room for Aang. Just a few minutes before, he had run off, saying how he needed to speak with her father. Katara had no idea what was so important that Aang couldn't wait until after the feast, since he didn't give her time to ask questions or even speak before he said he'd meet with her in a few minutes. She just shrugged it off, thinking that she would probably find out later. The waterbender looked around at all of the different people, recognizing a few faces she had grown up with, as well as a few she had met in the Northern Tribe. Just a few seats down from where she sat were Sokka and Suki, chatting away with their arms over each other's shoulder. Katara smiled at the two. They really did make a sweet couple.

Not to long after, the Avatar had finally came in and took a seat next to his girlfriend. He seemed to be very happy about something.

"Aang," Katara asked the monk, "what were you—?"

"Later, Katara," he said, taking her hand and giving it a soft squeeze.

Katara looked at him confused before shrugging and turning to a woman who had come from the North Pole, and conversed with her.

Aang sighed. He had to do it soon. Aang looked back to Katara, who was absorbed in conversation, before reaching his hand into his pocket and pulling out a beautiful betrothal necklace. The symbols for 'love' and 'peace' were carefully carved into the light blue stone. The airbender has been working on the simple, elegant charm for about a week now, and he had talked to Hakoda earlier that day, asking for his blessing. He just hoped that Katara would accept his proposal. With a sigh, he put it back in his pocket. He didn't want anyone to see it. Not just yet at least…

The night went on without too much activity. Hakoda had made a speech about the war, and how he's glad that most of his men made it home, and hoped the unlucky ones have found peace. Afterwards, much to Sokka's delight, large platters of food were placed on the tables, and everyone took that as their cue to dig in! There was a large variety of different foods from different cultures. Naturally, since the Water Tribes hunt for a lot of their food, there were many dishes with different varieties of meat. There were also some foods from the Earth Kingdom that the men of the tribe have grown used to while they were stationed in the Earth Kingdom during the war.

About an hour later, the whole tribe was finishing their meals, talking with each other about something or another. Aang had glanced over to Hakoda, who sat across from the Avatar. The older man gave a slight nod, silently telling him to do it now.

Aang stood up and cleared his throat. "Um, can I have everyone's attention please?" He started. The chatter quickly died down, and all eyes were on the Avatar.

"Well," he continued, feeling butterflies in his stomach, "tonight is a very special night. Not just because we have finally returned to the South Pole, but another reason. For those of you who don't know, Katara and I have been in a relationship for the past two years." He stared down at the waterbender and motioned for her to stand. She got to her feet, and gave Aang a confused look. It wasn't that she didn't want people to know about their love, she just didn't understand where he was going with this. She gave him a questioning look, but he just gave her a reassuring smile before turning to the rest of the room once more.

"Anyway, tonight, in front of the entire Water Tribe, I would like to ask Katara something very important." He then turned to the confused waterbender. "Katara," he said, "I love you with all my heart. Ever since we first met, I knew you were the one I wanted to be with forever." The airbender then put a hand in his pocket, grasping the necklace, ready to present it to her. "The spirits have blessed me so much by bringing you into my life, and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you. I guess what I'm trying to say is…" he finally pulled the necklace out of his pocket, holding it up high enough for the whole room to see. "Katara, will you marry me?"

The room was deadly silent. It seemed as though everyone had stopped breathing. All eyes were on Katara, as they anxiously waited for her to answer. She had tears running down her cheeks, but she didn't bother to wipe them away. After a few seconds, Aang started to get nervous. He couldn't stand the silence pressing on his ears as he waited for his love to say something; _anything_. Finally, after what seemed like forever, her face broke in to a wide smile.

"Yes!" she almost screamed, "Yes Aang! Yes!" she had tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Yes, I'll marry you!" Aang almost laughed in relief as she leaned in to kiss him. The two of them were in their own little world, far, far away. The cheers of the rest of the room fell to deaf ears. No one else existed. It was just Aang and Katara.

After the need for air overcame them, they finally broke apart. Aang held up the necklace, ready to tie it around her neck. Katara removed her mother's necklace and Aang pulled her hair out of the way as he tied the elegant piece of jewelry around her neck. He then took the old necklace from Katara's hands and carefully tied it around her wrist.

* * *

Katara awoke the next morning, ready for a new day. After getting dressed, she stepped outside and took a deep breath. Everything was perfect. It was great to see that the citizens of the Tribe went on with their everyday life. Most of the men went out to hunt, while the women stayed home, working around the house. The non-bender children would usually help their mothers with some of the chores in the mornings, and have time to play for the rest of the day, while the young waterbenders had classes with Master Pakku. Katara smiled at the city. Life was good.

A little after noon, Katara and Aang were walking along the icy streets, exploring the new city, hand in hand. Suddenly, Bato had come running up to the couple.

"I'm so sorry to bother you," he started, "but I have an important message for Aang." He held out a scroll, which Aang took.

"Thank you." Aang said, bowing towards Bato.

Once Bato had walked away, Aang opened up the scroll and began reading. "What is it, Aang?" Katara asked as he read.

At first, Aang didn't answer. His eyes were still glued to the paper, staring at it with a disbelieving glare. Finally, he tore his eyes away from the scroll and looked at Katara. She had a feeling that this wasn't anything good. She could see it in his eyes.

"It's from Zuko," he sighed. "There has been a rebellion. Attacks, murders, torture…" Aang shook his head. "Zuko fears that someone may come to assassinate him. I have to go straighten things out." His mouth was set into a grim line.

"What?" Katara yelled, causing a few people around them to stare. "But… but the war's over. Ozai has been left powerless. He's in prison! He—" Aang stopped her before she could continue.

"Yes, Ozai's powerless, but that doesn't mean the rest of his army is too. There are people who are still loyal to Ozai," he shook his head sadly, "unfortunately for the rest of us."

"Well, can't Zuko just arrest them?" Katara was willing to do almost anything to get Aang to stay. "He's the Fire Lord for crying out loud!"

"It's impossible to track down everyone. There are just too many." Aang shook his head. "There aren't too many people Zuko can trust anymore. He needs me, Katara."

"No, you can't go!" Katara cried, "Not without me!" Katara was near tears.

"No Katara. It's too dangerous." Aang shook his head. "If anything happened to you, I never would forgive myself."

"I'll be fine!" Katara stomped her foot in frustration. "I traveled the world with you, we had our lives at risk the entire time. I can handle it!"

"I know you can, Katara." Aang said quietly. "This is something I need to do alone. You mean the world to me, Katara. I love you. Look," he tilted Katara's chin up so she was facing him. "I'll go to the Fire Nation, and deal with the rebels. Once everything's calm, I'll come back for good, and we can get married. How does that sound?" He locked eyes with Katara, hoping that she knew why he was doing this. It was his duty as the Avatar to keep the peace. As much as he didn't want it to interfere with his life with Katara, he had to do this alone.

Finally, with a sigh, Katara replied. "Okay. I understand. The world comes first…"

Aang just nodded. "I guess I should get going then…" he leaned in towards Katara and kissed her before reluctantly heading towards their hut to pack.

* * *

The crowd had gathered around Appa, much like what they have done the previous day when the three arrived, but there was no cheering coming from the crowd… only a mournful silence. Aang was all packed, and Appa was ready to go. Just before climbing up on the bison, he went up to Katara, who was fighting back tears, and gave her one last kiss.

"Goodbye," he whispered to her. "I'll be back soon. I promise."

"Be careful," she said quietly. "Goodbye."

Aang boarded on Appa, Momo by his side, and with one last sad wave and the familiar "Yip, yip," Appa was in the air and going, going, _gone._ The crowd walked away, getting back to their daily activities, while Katara fell down to her knees, unable to stop the sobbing that she knew would follow Aang's departure.

* * *

Okay. That basically sucked… Not my best work. Um, the next chapter is gonna take place about eight years later. I'm in school now, and I'm very busy and I have a messed up schedule, so I don't know how long it'll take me to write chapter one. But in the meantime, please review, because if you don't, then there's no point in continuing, is there?


	4. Chapter 1

**Edit: October 18****th****-October 30****th****, 2008**

**If you've read this chapter before, read this. If not, don't read this part unless you wanna be spoiled for this chapter: After Aang comes back after those eight ears, I go on for about three paragraphs as to why he hasn't been able to send letters, going into a lot of detail. I felt that there wasn't really much reason for Aang not to write Katara, so I just changed things around to make it easier to believe than having Aang actually 'forget' about Katara. Just thought I'd letcha know!**

Okay. Here's chapter one. Now the story finally begins. Eight years into the future. The first part of this chapter is just Katara taking about how it's been years since she's last heard from Aang, etc. And it appears in some other form near the end of this chapter. You'll see. The second part is basically what has been happening during those eight years, and it's the first chapter (duh). Anyway, it's strange… Since this story was written, I've only received one review. On my last story, just about everyone said they wanted a sequel… **If you're reading, please review**. Like I've said before, there's no point writing this if no one's letting me know how I'm doing. So, this chapter is dedicated to KaTaAnG fOr EvEr, my replier!

**Disclaimer:** I only own Avatar on opposite day…

'It has been eight years since the day Aang has left me. Eight years! Eight years of waiting, eight years of watching the sky in hope of seeing that damned bison, eight years of hoping for even the slightest bit of news telling me when Aang's coming home, or even if he's alive. I have been waiting all these years for Aang to return so we can finally start our lives together, but now, I've lost all hope that he will ever return. I want to move on; I want to start a family! But I want it with him…'

* * *

It had been eight years since Aang had left. Even though Katara had put her life on hold until Aang returned, life went on…

About a year after Aang had left, Sokka and Suki got engaged. Katara was happy for her brother. She loved Suki like a sister, and supported their relationship one-hundred-and-fifty percent. They had a short engagement- less than six months before they were married. While she was happy in general for the loving couple, Katara didn't enjoy the beautiful winter wedding as much as she should have. Suki was a gorgeous bride and everything about the ceremony was flawless. On the inside, however, Katara felt an unpleasant mixture of jealousy, guilt, and heartbreak. Why couldn't this be her wedding with Aang? Where on Earth was he? When was he coming back? Was he ever gonna return home at all? These were the thoughts that haunted Katara for years afterwards.

Unfortunately, not too long after the wedding, Katara and Sokka's grandmother, Kana, had passed away of old age. Master Pakku was heartbroken, but remained in the Southern Water Tribe to teach the younger children waterbending.

A few years later, Suki became pregnant, and later, had a little girl who was named Suri. She looked just like her mother; light brown hair, green eyes, and fair skin. You could only tell that she was Sokka's child because of her dry sense of humor, and her love of adventures.

Just before Suri turned three, Suki was, once again, pregnant. Katara's jealously grew and she felt guilty because of this. She had to be happy for them. She _was_ happy for them. It was a blessing. But still, she wanted this to be her… longing did nothing but grow inside of her.

So, in summary, eight years had passed since this whole thing with Aang leaving for the Fire Nation to take care of the rebels, Sokka and Suki are together with one daughter, and another child on the way, and now our story can finally begin…

It was the early afternoon. Katara sat near a small pond with a few young children who were in waterbending stances. For the past two years, she had been assisting the younger children in waterbending lessons after Master Pakku had lost his patience with a five year old girl, reducing her to tears. Katara, on the contrary, was much more patient and not quite as uptight. She was once like them. She could wait. It's not like she had anything tying her down…

"Master Katara, do I move my hands like this?" A little boy asked. He was in a perfect stance, moving his hands in a fluid motion.

"Yes!" The young boy grinned happily. "That's perfect." Katara smiled. "Do you think you're ready to try it on the water?"

The boy thought for a moment. "Yeah, I'm ready!" He moved closer to the water, and took his stance once again, and moved his hands back and forth. Soon, the water below him had started moving in sync with his hands. "I'm doing it! Look Master Katara! I'm doing it!"

The other students stopped what they were doing to watch the six year old boy's progress.

"That's great!" Katara clapped her hands. It felt great when a child waterbended for the first time. It made Katara feel like she had accomplished a great feat, one with many rewards.

After pushing and pulling the water a few more times, the boy let his hands fall to his sides, dropping the water back into the pond. "That was _very good_!" Katara praised. "Excellent. Okay. I think that's enough for today. You may go."

* * *

"Suri, you get back here this _instant_!" Suki yelled. She loved that child, but she was _such_ a handful. _Why_ did she have to take after Sokka?

"But _Mommy_," the three year old girl whined. "I wanna show you sumthin'!" Before Suki could even stop her, Suri jumped off the sidewalk, and into a puddle that was left from the rain they had the other night.

"Ah! _Suri_," Suki yelled, shielding her face from the water the young girl was splashing everywhere. Finally, Suki grabbed her daughter by the arm, and dragged her away. "_What_ do you think you were doing young lady?" Suki said angrily as soon as they entered their home.

"I hadda show you I can waterbend, like Auntie 'Tara!" Suri replied happily.

"Suri…" Suki moaned. She sighed heavily as she took the wet child to her room to change. Just as she was pulling out a new parka, Sokka walked in.

"Hey! How are my lovely ladies doing to—" Sokka stopped short when he saw his daughter, soaking wet. "Okay, Suri… _why_ are you wet?"

"I waterbended, Daddy," she said happily.

Sokka looked confused, so Suki cut in. "By that, she means she splashed in a puddle, and got herself _soaked_!" Suki gave Sokka a death glare as he laughed. "Sokka, _don't_ encourage that kind of behavior!" She said quietly, so Suri wouldn't hear.

"Sorry Suki," Sokka said. "Here, let me help you with that." He took the parka away from Suki, and helped Suri into it.

"Well, it seems like you have everything under control. I'm going to go lay down," Suki said as she rested her hand on her six-month-old pregnant belly.

"So," Sokka said as soon as his wife was out of ear shot. "You waterbended you said?" Suri smiled.

* * *

Early the next morning, when the sun was just peeking out from under the horizon, Sokka was out fishing in the ocean. After an hour with no luck, he decided that he would just give up. "Stupid fish," he murmured to himself as he watched a school of fish swim by. He could _swear_ they were taunting him. Just as he was about to turn around, something in the sky had caught his eye. It looked like a big, white fluffy animal flying towards him. "No way," he whispered. Abandoning his fishing pole, he took a few steps forward, stopping just short of the ocean, and just stared disbelievingly as the giant bison came closer with each passing minute.

Finally, Appa had come in for a landing. At the top of his head sat the Avatar.

"Hey Sokka," the airbender yelled, waving from his animal guide's head. He stood up and airbended himself to the ground as a little lemur flew onto his shoulder.

"Aang," Sokka said, still not believing his eyes. Aang hadn't changed too much; his head was still bare, the blue arrow sitting proudly on his forehead, he had the same goofy smile he had since he was 12, and it seemed as though Aang had changed into his faux fur coat before he had arrived. The only differences were the facts that he had shot up at least a foot since he last saw him, and his voice was much deeper as well.

"Wow Aang, it's been so long! Uh, it's great to see you!" Sokka said, uncertain as to what to say to someone he hasn't heard from in eight years.

"Yeah, it's great to see you too!" Aang smiled. An awkward silence followed.

"She really missed you, you know," Sokka said, breaking the silence.

Aang nodded, knowing Sokka was talking about Katara.

"Why didn't you let us know what was going on, Aang? Why couldn't you find the time to at _least_ write her a letter, letting her know that you were alright?" Sokka's voice started to get a little louder as he went on. "Why didn't you even give Katara- your fiancée- _one_ thought while you were gone? My sister is a wreck because of you. It's been _eight years_ since you left, and you just come back out of the blue, and expect us to go on like nothing has ever happened? _I don't think so!_"

Aang didn't say a word. He just stood there, frozen to the spot. Sokka was right. Why _couldn't_ he find the time to contact them? "I— Sokka— of course, I thought about Katara all the time. I just—"

"Couldn't find the five minutes to write to her?" Sokka finished for him.

Aang felt horrible. _How _could he be so _stupid_? Of course, it broke his heart when he had to leave Katara, and he _had_ planned on writing her after he got settled in, but once he got to the Fire Nation, he was sent straight to work.

His days were spent either with Zuko as they planned strategies for capturing the Ozai supporters, carrying out said strategies, he had to arrange for the captured men to be taken to the Boiling Rock prison and make sure he was able to round up _every single_ man… Ending the rebellion took a lot longer than he thought. Five years of more and more firebenders returning to try to either overthrow or assassinate the Fire Lord, kill the Avatar, some even tried to free Ozai from his prison cell, not considering the fact that he was now powerless.

Aang hardly ever had any time to even _think_ about his fiancée, let alone write to her. On those rare moments where he did have any free time, he would use that to either sleep or eat. The longer he went without writing Katara, the angrier he thought she'd be.

Aang _should've_ just left after those five years, and beg for Katara's forgiveness, but _no_. He _had_ to be sure Zuko was given maximum security just in case more rebels showed up, he _had_ to help the Fire Lord do all the other thousands of things he had to do. But what's done is done. There was no changing the past…

"So, she must really hate me…?" Aang asked after he finished criticizing himself.

"I don't think she _hates_ you, Aang." Sokka said. "She'll probably be very mad and go into a huge waterbending rage, but in the end— if you're still alive, that is, I'm sure she'll forgive you," the warrior said simply.

"Uh, thanks Sokka…" Aang said unsurely. "I feel better now…"

By the time the pair made it back to the village with Appa and Momo in tow, the sun was higher in the sky; Sokka estimated it to be around the time the village began their workday. Katara was probably just getting up about now. Sokka lead Aang to Katara's hut before the airbender pulled his friend to the side.

"Sokka, if I die, I want you to take care of Appa and Momo." Momo gave an angry squeak from Sokka's shoulder as Aang walked inside to finally face Katara.

* * *

Katara had just woken up. "Another day," she sighed. As she changed out of her nightclothes and put on her everyday outfit, she thought she heard someone walk into her home. Since Sokka sometimes made a habit of coming into her home unannounced, Katara figured it was just her brother. She sighed as she walked into the main room.

"Hey Aang," she said, obviously distracted. She was just about to walk outside when her brain finally registered who she had just seen. "_AANG_!" she yelled, not knowing whether to kiss him or to kill him, "what are you doing here? Why… What… When did you… When did you get back?"

"Not too long ago." Aang said, relieved that Katara didn't seem _too_ angry. "I met Sokka by the ocean while he was fishing, or rather watching the fish swim away from him." He laughed. He was happy when Katara managed a small smile.

"Oh, Aang, I just can't believe… After all this time…" and suddenly, without warning, a hard glare formed across her caramel face as Katara smacked the Avatar _hard_ across his face.

Aang wasn't surprised, to say the least. "Yeah, I probably deserved that…" He said, wincing, as he put a hand on his cheek where Katara had slapped him.

"You have been gone for eight years, Aang. _Eight years_! Eight years of waiting, eight years of sleepless nights, watching the sky, and hoping that you were coming back to me. I have been waiting all this time to hear something, _anything_, about what was going on. You could've been _dead_ and I would never have heard about it, Aang. I put my _whole_ life on hold for you! I have been proposed to countless times over the years, but I turned them all down. I could already be happily married and even have a family, but _no_. I had to wait for you." Katara was breathing fast and heavy.

"You don't even know the _hell_ you have put me through since you left. It was like a part of me was missing. I was _heartbroken_, I was told to forget about you and move on, I was told that you were never coming back. I didn't want to believe them, but in a way—" She took another shaky breath before continuing, leaving that sentence unfinished.

"Everything has been a mess since you left. You're just…" She bowed her head as she fought back tears. The waterbender didn't know what else to say. There weren't enough words in the world to tell him what a horrible thing it was that he has done.

Aang was feeling even worse now than he did, if that was possible. He didn't know what to say. "Katara, I… I'm _so_ sorry. I—"

"_Sorry_? You have been gone all this time and all you can say is you're _sorry_?"

"Well, what do you want me to _say_? What do you want me to _do_?" Aang asked desperately. He wanted nothing more than for Katara to forgive him, even though he didn't think he deserved it.

"I'm sorry Aang. This… this is just happening too fast. I think I just need to be alone for a bit to think things through." Katara said tearfully as she turned away from the monk and headed towards her room, not even turning back to see the Avatar standing in the main room, tears streaming down his face.

* * *

So, let me know what you think. I won't put up a new chapter till I get a reply. I'm not trying to be rude, but just take one minute to type up a (non-flame) review!

Next chapter, Aang seeks help from an unlikely person about what he should do to win back Katara's heart. What'll happen? Find out next chapter! (Coming soon to a fan-fiction website near you!)


	5. Chapter 2

**Edit: November 26, 2008-December 9****th****, 2008**

**Sorry it's taking forever to get these out, even though I don't think anyone's reading these updates…**

Hm… Well, at least I got a review… One on , and one on another Avatar Fansite (Kataang Forever ^_^) I'd like to get more reviews though. There's not much of a point in continuing with only a few people reading… If you are reading, please just take one minute to review (without flaming ^_^) Anyway, again, I'd like to thank daydream11 for editing this! *Hugs*

**Disclaimer:** This is pointless…

"Hey Aang, how'd it go?" Sokka asked his friend as he came out of the ice hut. Aang just looked at his friend and shook his head sadly. "Oh," Sokka said. "That bad, huh?"

"She says that since I left, a part of her is missing, that she has been a mess for the past eight years. She has been proposed to, she couldn't sleep…" Aang sighed. "And it was all because of me."

Sokka nodded, knowing this was true. "And what did you say?"

"I said I was sorry." Sokka shook his head at Aang's statement.

"Aang, Aang, _Aang_. I have learned a lot over the years. As you probably don't know, I've been married to Suki for about seven years, so I know that 'sorry' _never_ makes a good argument."

After the slight surprise that Sokka had actually settled down and got married had worn off, Aang realized that made sense; 'sorry' never fixed anything. But what was he _supposed_ to say to her? "Maybe you're right Sokka, but what _should_ I have said?" he asked the question that just went through his head.

"Well, what you _should've_ said was that Katara was absolutely right. Say that you had no reason not to contact her for eight years, and how wrong you were. Oh, and maybe you should throw in that you no longer deserve her. And it wouldn't hurt to beg for forgiveness afterwards, I guess…" Sokka said, his sentence wandering off into the frosty Arctic air. "So, what did she say after your pathetic apology?"

Aang scowled at his friend before he spoke. "She said that she just… needed time to think things through."

"So what you need to do is give Katara her space for the time being," Sokka said with a nod.

"Okay, I already knew that, but is there anything I can do until then?" Aang asked desperately.

"Um…" Sokka thought for a moment. "…nope…"

* * *

Aang took Sokka's advice and gave Katara her space, which was easy since she stayed in her ice hut for the rest of the day.

Early that evening, just as the sun was starting to set, Aang sat at the edge of a large fountain in the middle of the city. The Avatar just sat there, absentmindedly bending the water out of the fountain, moving it around while manipulating its shape. When he heard a familiar woman's voice call to him from behind, he lost his focus and the water dropped back into the pond with a small splash. Aang turned around and saw a pregnant Suki walking towards him with a little girl (who Aang assumed to be her and Sokka's daughter) holding on to her mother's hand.

"Hey Suki," Aang said as he looked up at the former Kyoshi Warrior.

"Hey Aang," Suki said, nodding at the Avatar.

"So," Aang started. "I've heard that you and Sokka are married… and apparently have children." He looked from the three year old girl to Suki's pregnant belly.

Suki laughed as she nodded. "Sokka told me that you came back earlier, and when Suri heard, she wanted to meet the Avatar." She smiled at the little girl whose arms were now wrapped around one of Suki's, and was hiding shyly behind her mother.

Aang smiled as his heart melted at the adorable little girl who was staring at him as though she were terrified of the 'Great and Almighty' Avatar. "Hello Suri," he said in a friendly voice. "It's nice to meet you."

A blush was shown on the young girl's face, and she buried her face into her mother's coat, mumbling something incoherent. Aang chucked a bit. It really _was_ one of the cutest things he has ever seen.

"Now Suri, don't be nervous," Suki said as she put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Aang won't hurt you. He just wants to say hello. Go on. Say 'hello' to him." Suri turned nervously to the Avatar.

"Hello," she said in a small voice. Aang couldn't help but smile more widely at the child's tiny voice.

"Oh, Suki," Aang said quietly, "she's so sweet!"

"Thanks," Suki said, as she sat down by the Avatar on the fountain's ledge. "Just don't let these cute looks fool you," she hugged her daughter to her side, "she can be a handful sometimes. She does take after Sokka, after all."

Aang laughed. Things must be pretty hectic with another Sokka- albeit a more feminine one- running around.

"So," the airbender said, "speaking of Sokka, how are you two doing?"

"Oh, we're fine." Suki replied. "We're just busy. Getting ready for the new baby; and of course, Suri is a big help, right honey?" Suri nodded shyly, and managed a small smile at the Avatar. She seemed to be warming up to the newcomer pretty quickly.

"So, how far along are you?" Aang asked.

"Six months." Suki sighed. "I can't wait to have this baby. Neither can Sokka; mainly because I eat even more than he does." The two adults laughed.

"E'scuse me, Mister Avatar," Suri said, out of the blue, "are you here to marry Auntie 'Tara?"

Aang smiled nervously at her and turned to Suki. "How does she know that Katara and I—?"

Suki giggled. "Fairy tales," she said simply. "Sokka tells her fairy tales about princes and princesses falling in love. And you just _happen_ to be the prince in Suri's favorite story- one about the Air Prince who marries the Water Princess." She smiled at her daughter, who nodded.

"Well, I'd _like_ to marry Katara, but I'm not sure if she would want to marry me." Aang forced a laugh. He didn't want to get the two, especially not Suri, into his personal affairs.

"Daddy says that you are gonna get married, and you will have a wedding and a _BIG_ choc-lit cake!" Suri said excitedly.

The three sat at the fountain for a little while longer. The sun was starting to set, and Suki said that she wanted to go home and eat.

"Come on Suri." She said to her daughter. "You hungry?"

The three year old shook her head. "No. Can I stay with Avatar Aang?"

Suki looked unsure. "Aang, would you—?"

"Of course!" Aang said with that same 12- year-old smile he possessed in his youth. "I'd love to spend a little more time with her."

Suki laughed. "Okay Aang, If you're sure," Suki said. She turned to Suri. "And you're gonna be a good girl for Aang, right?"

"Uh-huh!" Suri squealed.

"Alright," Suki said as she walked away. "Just don't be out too late."

"We'll be back soon." Aang called after her. Suki held up a hand as she walked down the busy street, signaling that she heard him.

Soon, Suki was out of sight, and Aang was left alone with the child.

"So…" Suri said, climbing onto the ledge of the fountain, where her mother was sitting moments before. "You said Auntie 'Tara might not wanna marry you. Why?" The little girl asked. "You're hand-sim!" Aang grinned- the cherub had dimples.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just… just grown-up things." Aang really didn't want to talk about it; especially not with a three-year-old.

Suri frowned, "Aw, come on. Please?" She stared at him with her big brown eyes. "I won't say it to anybody!"

"Katara's just mad at me," Aang said, forcing a small smile. "It's nothing to worry about."

"When Mommy's mad at Daddy," Suri started, in an 'I know exactly what you're talking about' tone she must've stolen from her mother. "Daddy talks to Mommy. And then they go into their bedroom and come out later looking very happy. I dunno _what_ they're doing in there though. Daddy says that they are saying how much they love each other."

Aang tried very hard not to laugh, "Well, I don't think, uh, 'talking' to Katara would help."

Suri thought for a moment. "How about you give her some water lilies?" She cried a minute later.

"What are water lilies?" He asked.

"They're Auntie 'Tara's favorite flower. I see boys giving some to her all the time, and she looks happy."

Aang frowned at that statement. The Avatar didn't like the idea of men giving Katara flowers, hoping to take her away from him. He wouldn't have that. Putting a smile back on his face, he spoke to Suri. "So, where would I go to get some of those water lilies?"

Suri smiled even wider, "Go to the ocean and they're in the part that isn't deep. Mommy and Daddy won't let me go there though 'cause I can't swim."

Aang nodded as a plan formed in his mind. He smiled; for real this time. "Well, thank you Suri. That really helped."

"No problem!" She replied. She was just too cute to be Sokka's child.

Aang looked up at the dark sky. It was getting late. "Come on Suri. I think it's time I took you home."

Suri smiled as she and Aang stood from the fountain and started to make their way to Sokka and Suki's place, which was…

"Um, Suri," the airbender had just realized that he had no idea where Sokka and Suki lived. "Do you know where your house is?"

The little girl shrugged and shook her head, hair loops swinging every which way. "No." Aang mentally slapped his palm to his forehead at his stupidity. She was _three_. "I know it's next to Auntie 'Tara's house though." Aang looked back at the three-year-old. He knew how to get _there_.

"Okay. Thanks Suri!" He grabbed her hand and started walking in the direction of Katara's hut.

As the two walked, he couldn't help but watch Suri, who was staring up at the full moon.

"The moon is in one of Daddy's fairy tales," she said suddenly. Aang looked at her, interested. He thought he knew what this certain story was about. "It's about a warrior and a princess who fall in love with each other," she started. Aang knew where this was going. "But they can't get married 'cause the princess has to marry some other boy." The Avatar _really_ didn't want to hear this, but it would've been rude to tell Suri this, so he let her continue. "And at the end, the princess has to be the Moon Spirit. She watches over the warrior and protects us all." When she finally finished, Aang exhaled loudly. It still seems that Sokka still hasn't forgotten about Princess Yue, even _after_ he moved on.

"Wow," Aang said. "That's some story."

Suri just nodded. "I asked Daddy if it was true, but he said that he doesn't think it is."

Aang stared at the full moon. It seemed to be shining even brighter than usual. "I do."

* * *

Yeah. It's a little longer than my other chapters. Not really a bad thing though I guess! Anyway, Aang has a plan having to do with the water lilies in case you missed that… What's his plan? Find out next chapter! ^_^


	6. Chapter 3

**Edit: December 3****rd****, 2008- January 11****th****, 2009**

**Sorry this took so long. Been busy. I'm going back to school on the 24****th****, so expect long gaps like this. Sorry.**

Okay. I just got this back from my beta, daydream11. It's slightly different from what I've had before, so if you have already read the first version of chapter three, you don't really need to read this… unless you want to… Anyway, chapter four… Dunno when that'll be up. There are a few things that daydream and I are trying to work out at the moment, but it'll be up ASAP! So… here's the updated version of chapter three!

**Disclaimer:** The word 'duh' comes to mind…

* * *

Aang woke up earlier than usual the next morning. He looked around him, and it took a few moments to realize where he was. Then he remembered all the events of yesterday. _'Of course,_' he thought. _'I'm in the South Pole.'_ After his talk with Suri last night, the two had finally made it to where Sokka and Suki lived. Since Aang had nowhere to go, and since Katara would most likely not let him stay with her, Sokka and Suki had allowed Aang to stay with them, much to Suri's delight. The little girl had really taken a liking to the Avatar, if the playful streaks of makeup across his face were any indication.

After getting out of his bed and into his clothes, he decided to go to the ocean to get some of the water lilies he had learned Katara liked so much. That was step one of his plan. He loved the waterbender, and couldn't stand her being mad at him, even though she had every right to be mad after he disappeared for eight years. Still, he was going to do whatever it took to make things right between the two.

Once he was outside, he found Appa, still fast asleep in a clearing behind the homes, and Momo, who was pawing at the ice, apparently looking for bugs or something of the sort.

"Hey Momo," said the Avatar. "Wanna come help me out with something?"

Abandoning his attempts to search for anything he deemed edible, the little lemur flew up onto Aang's head, chattering to him, as usual.

"You'll see!" Aang said, as if he understood the lemur's chatters as 'so, what are we doing?'

* * *

When she first woke up that morning, Katara didn't know why she felt so miserable. _'Oh, right,'_ she thought, once she remembered what she had been crying about the day before. The waterbender sighed as she got up and dressed.

As she walked past her mirror, she stopped and stared into it, slightly startled by her reflection: Her eyes were red and puffy, tearstains ran down her cheeks, and there were frown lines along the outsides of her lips. Without another glance, she left her room and into the bathroom, where a large basin full of water sat under a small mirror. She splashed the cool water onto her face and glanced back up at herself. _'A little better…' _she thought as she left to get some breakfast. Upon entering the main room, she jumped at the sight of her brother.

"Sokka, what are you doing here?" she asked, not meaning the rudeness she implied.

"Great to see you too, sis," he rolled his eyes at Katara.

"Sorry," the waterbender said with a sigh. "I'm just not feeling my best today."

"I understand," The warrior said as he walked over to Katara and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I've got an idea!" he said suddenly. "Why not spend the day with Suri? She wants to see her Auntie Katara."

A smile flickered on the young woman's face for a second before disappearing back into a frown. "I don't think I'm feeling up to it," she said quietly, "maybe some other time."

"Aw, come on sis! Why not? You two can go penguin sled—" He cut himself off. Sokka wanted Katara to get her mind off of anything having to do with the Avatar, at least for the time being. "Uh, well, maybe you two can…" After a short pause, Sokka just decided why not just cut to the chase. "Just get outta the house!"

"Hey!" Katara yelled as her brother pushed her out of her hut. _'Get Katara out of the house: Check!'_ He thought with a smile. _'Katara's gonna love what Aang has planned for her!'_

* * *

"I had a fun day Auntie 'Tara!" Suri squealed that afternoon.

The two had spent the day together, just as Sokka had suggested. The two went penguin sledding with a few of Suri's friends, and after an hour or so, Katara showed Suri some of her newest waterbending moves, then it was back to Sokka and Suki's place to get Suri changed after the little girl showed her aunt how she could 'waterbend' too. Then, they built a snow hut, which was one of Katara's favorite pastimes when she was Suri's age. Lastly, they went to visit Hakoda, who showed the child some of the weapons he had. Though not too many girls were interested in weapons, Suri thought they were cool, which worried Suki slightly and never let her touch any.

"Did you?" Katara smiled at her niece as they walked back over to her hut.

Suri nodded. "I wanna spend more days with you cause you're fun!"

Katara was touched. Her niece really loved her. "Of _course_ we can spend more time together."

The two girls smiled as they finally came upon the row of snow huts.

"Suri," a voice from a nearby hut called out. The two turned around and saw Suki waddling towards them, one hand on her plump belly. "Come on hon, it's time for dinner."

"Okay mommy," The little girl said, running over to her mother.

Once Katara caught up with her, Suki pulled her aside. "Thank you so much for watching Suri today. I really needed the break."

Katara smiled. "That's no problem at all. I love spending time with my niece." Suki smiled and raised her hand in goodbye.

With a sigh, the waterbender decided it was time she went back into her home. She had completely forgotten about Aang, but now that she had some quiet time, the airbender was now all that she could think about.

At the door of her tiny hut, she paused. Slowly, she turned around and gazed around the city. She hadn't seen Aang all day. Where could he be? Katara's question was answered the moment she turned back to the entrance, and went inside…

Her jaw dropped. "What the…" She looked from left to right, taking in the amazing sight before her: There were water lilies… everywhere; there were many covering most of the floor, save for a small path to be able to get around without stepping on the lilies, there were some covering the small table where she usually ate her solitary meals, more seemed to be strung together, with what Katara could only guess to be a fishing line, hanging down the walls; and to bring the whole look together, the icy interior of the hut made the whole place sparkle. And standing in the middle of it all was Aang. The airbender was holding a single lily, wearing his old smile.

"Aang…" She breathed, at a complete loss for what to say.

"I spent all day making everything perfect for you." Aang said, "I love you more than anything. I know I owe you _so_ much more after I left you for all that time, but… can't you _please_ just find it in your heart to forgive me, Katara? I'm willing to do anything to make it all up to you, I promise. Just… please Katara…"

"You did all this… for me?" Katara asked in a whisper.

Aang nodded. "Of course I did this for you. And I promise. I will never leave you again. I—" The Avatar was cut off when Katara strode over to him, and kissed him softly on the lips.

"I love you too, Aang, and of course I forgive you."

Aang smiled as he carefully placed the water lily behind her left ear.

"How do I look?" She asked as she smiled even more, if that was possible.

"You're beautiful… as you always are." Katara blushed as Aang moved in for another, more passionate kiss.

Aang, who faced the entrance to the hut, opened one eye and caught sight of Sokka, who was peeking in the doorway. The airbender gave Sokka a thumbs-up as a thank you for helping him plan this soon-to-be-even-more romantic evening.

* * *

Yeah. Very similar to the last draft, give or take a few words. Anyway, how many of you are drowning in the fluff? So, I'm hoping to have chapter four up by Friday, and I've finished chapter five and just about done with six, but I needa look through them a few more times and then send them to daydeam11. Thanks for reading and thanks again for understanding the long wait! So… please review! And to those who have already reviewed, thanks!


	7. Chapter 4

**Edit: January 30th 2010**

I'd like to thank daydream11 for getting this in so fast even though she's a procrastinator, and thanks to all my reviewers! So anyway, this chapter's pretty short, but that's because it's just a filler chapter… Nothing too interesting happens here. It's just setting up for chapter five, which is setting up for chapter six! (Though chapter five does have a few surprises in it! ). So anyway, I hope you like this chapter, and I have no idea what else to say!

* * *

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Avatar, season three would've come out about six months ago… (But instead, it's tomorrow!)

* * *

The next morning, Sokka woke up just after the city started to awake as well and began to get on with his daily activities.

"Hi Daddy," a little girl called out to the warrior once he got dressed and went into the main room. He glanced over at the small table, and saw his daughter and wife eating breakfast.

"Good morning Suri," he said with a smile. "Morning Suki," he murmured as he gave his wife a peck on the cheek and rubbed her tummy, smiling when he felt a tiny kick from inside.

"So," Suki started, smiling at her husband, "what are the _big exciting_ plans for today?"

Sokka thought for a moment. "Oh, I dunno… I'd like to see how things with Aang and Katara went last night, and I'd also like to spend the day with the two most beautiful girls in the world."

"What did Avatar Aang and Auntie 'Tara do last night?" Suri asked with innocent curiosity.

"Well, Aang decorated Katara's place with water lilies," Sokka said, winking at Suki as he said it.

The three-year-old gasped. "I told him where the water lilies are! I helped!" she squealed excitedly.

"Yes you did!" Sokka said, giving the little girl a hug.

"Wow Suri," Suki said, "you're a real match-maker."

Suri smiled proudly, dimples becoming obvious.

"Yeah, when I walked in later last night, I found the two of them kissing." He smirked at the small 'ew!' that came from his daughter.

* * *

Back at Katara's hut, she and Aang were awake, their bare bodies pressed up against each other as the morning sun peeked in from behind them.

"Wow," was all Katara could say. After their kiss from the night before, Aang had taken Katara into the bedroom, spending most of the night telling her exactly how much he loved her; and _boy,_ did he love her!

Aang laughed, whispering into her ear, "You liked that, didn't you?" Katara nodded.

"We should have more nights like this," she said, placing her arms around his body.

"You're absolutely right," the airbender said. "If that's what you want, you've got it!" He fingered the betrothal necklace Aang had given her eight years before. The Avatar was happy that Katara still wore it, even after all these years. "So," Aang asked cautiously, hoping he wasn't pushing his luck, "when's the wedding?"

Katara's smile widened as she kissed him softly on the lips. "Hm… Whenever we get everything together; that should take only about a month or two."

Aang's eyes widened. He hadn't counted on a short engagement like that. Noticing the look, Katara smiled at him.

"Come on Aang. We've been engaged for eight years. I think it's about time we got married."

Aang's confused look turned into a wide smile. "You're right!"

After one last kiss, the engaged couple got out of bed, made themselves decent to the rest of the city (since the general public frowned on nudity, and they very well couldn't get frostbite in unmentionable places), then they left the hut, hand in hand.

"So, about the wedding," Katara said, speaking up for the first time since they talked about getting married, "we have lots of decisions to make."

"Like what?" Aang asked, sounding naïve. It was obvious that Aang was a novice when it came to weddings. Katara guessed that as a monk, he hasn't attended very many ceremonies, regardless of his Avatar status.

"Well, for one thing, the location…"

"Right here," Aang said simply.

"Okay, right. Then we have to figure out who's invited…" Immediately, Aang started to list potential guests.

"Well, of course, the whole city, and we can send messages to other friends: Toph, Haru, maybe the other Kyoshi Warriors, Zuko and Mai, Teo, but I don't think he'd come all the way across the world for that… Um, we can also..." Aang was cut off.

"Good morning Auntie 'Tara! Good morning Avatar Aang!" A high-pitched shout was heard from behind. The two turned in the direction of the voice, which was the mouth of Sokka, Suki, and Suri's hut. There was the three-year-old dressed in her usual blue furs, her brown hair braided into two thick ponytails.

"Good morning Suri," Aang and Katara said.

"Guess what?" The little girl giggled.

"What?" Katara asked, acting more curious than she actually was for the little one's sake.

"Daddy says he's gonna spend the whole day with Mommy and me!"

"Well, that's great!" Katara said to her niece just as Sokka and Suki walked out from behind her.

"So Aang," Sokka said, going over to the airbender. "How'd it go last night? I mean, I saw the kiss, but I wanted to hear about it from your perspective." He gave an eyebrow raise for good measure, which induced eye-rolling from two of the ladies present and a confused look on another.

Aang laughed, "It went great. Katara loved the lilies; we're getting married in a couple months."

"Awesome!" Sokka said, putting his arm around Aang.

"Auntie 'Tara," Suri said.

"Yes Suri?"

"Daddy said that Avatar Aang put lilies all over your house as a su-prise!" The little girl smiled at her aunt.

"Why, yes he did," Katara said, not knowing how Sokka knew about that.

"Well, when I talked to Avatar Aang two nights ago, I told him about the water lilies!" The three-year-old looked proud of herself.

Katara gave a happy and overly-exaggerated gasp. "You did?" The little one nodded. "Well, that was great. Thanks Suri!" She kissed her niece on the cheek.

"Come on Suri. Let's go find a penguin before Mommy gets a hernia from standing all day with a baby in her tummy." Sokka said as Suki scowled. Gigging loudly, and not knowing nor caring what a hernia was, Suri waved to Katara and Aang one last time before running off after her parents, giggling even more when Suki playfully pushed Sokka down onto the snow for his comment.

"So," Katara said after the threesome walked away, "about the wedding…"

* * *

Yeah. See? Nothing special… Uh, I can't give you an estimated time on when chapter five will come out… Hopefully I'll get it to you within a week or two? I'm in college, so… yeah. You get it… Please review!

(Avatar season three is in less than 24 hours!)


	8. Chapter 5

**Edit: February 26****th****, 2009**

Well, here's chapter five. This basically sets up everything for the wedding chapter (which is gonna be in the second half of chapter six, just so you know!) Once again, I'd like to thank daydream11 for looking through this and stuff… I do have chapter six all typed out, but I've decided to make some really big changes, so I have to re-write some parts of it, then look over it again, making sure it makes sense, cause I'll admit that I had writer's block on that one… Anyway, I will keep you waiting no longer. Here's the next chapter!

**Disclaimer: **Why do I even bother?

* * *

Over the next seven weeks, plans were made, invites were sent out, compromises were made, arguments were common, and tension was high. Finally, every single detail of Katara and Aang's wedding were made. All there was left to do was to wait for the guests, who should be arriving over the next week, and then finally, after ten long years, Aang and Katara were to be married. The ceremony was to take place in one week at sunset, near the fountain which stood in the middle of the city. Then, the reception will be held in the banquet hall which, coincidentally, was the very building in which Aang proposed to Katara.

Early one morning, Katara stood in her bedroom, modeling her new wedding gown to Suki, now a little over eight months along in her pregnancy.

"You look gorgeous, Katara," Suki said, sitting on Katara's bed, since she couldn't stand for too long without experiencing discomfort from the heavy baby.

"You really think so?" The soon-to-be bride asked as she stood by her mirror, looking at herself from different angles. "You don't think it's a little too loose around the middle?" She held out a piece of fabric from her dress.

"Katara, you look great. It's not too loose. It's _supposed_ to be like that."

Katara sighed as she stood facing the mirror, taking in her appearance. She wore a long-sleeved ice-blue gown which hugged her upper body, showing off her slim figure, and it flowed outwards just below her waist, touching below her feet, which was easily fixed with the heels she wore.

"Yeah," Katara finally said with another sigh. "I just hope Aang likes it."

Suki stood up with some difficulty and put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Aang will love it. Whether you walk down the isle in the world's most gorgeous dress, or in rags, Aang will think you're the most beautiful woman in the world." She turned back to the bed, picking up a gorgeous, waist-length veil, and placing it on Katara's head. "Aang loves you. He loves you enough to marry you. You two will have a wonderful, long life together."

Katara just stood there for a minute or two, taking in what Suki had said. "You're right Suki. Thanks." The waterbender and the former warrior wrapped their arms around each other in a friendly embrace.

"That's no problem at all, Katara." The brown-eyed woman smiled. "Your wedding's gonna be perfect!"

* * *

The first few guests arrived the next day. Haru and his parents took a ship to the South Pole the day they got their invite. Katara thought they looked weird in warm clothing. They wore parkas, which were a deep green, with brown trimmings, obviously made in the Earth Kingdom.

"Haru," Katara smiled as she and Aang shook off a few women, trying to press them for every teeny detail about the wedding decorations. "It's great to see you!" she said with a smile as she hugged the earthbender.

"Great to see you too," Haru smiled, "the both of you. Congratulations!"

"Thanks," the two said at once.

"Are you guys nervous about getting married?" Tyro asked.

"A little nervous," Katara responded as Aang agreed as Sokka walked up to greet them.

"Sokka, how's it going?" Haru asked the warrior.

"Everything's great," Sokka said. "I've been married for a while, I have a little girl, and another child on the way."

"Well, that's great!" Haru said.

"Who's the lucky lady?" his mother asked.

"She's great," Sokka said. "I'll introduce you guys later."

While the couple nodded, Katara noticed that Haru had been looking over his shoulder near the harbor for the past couple minutes. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

Haru shook his head. "No. I'm just waiting for my fiancée."

"Your fiancée," Katara repeated. "You're getting married?"

Haru nodded. "Yeah, she's a little sea sick though. She doesn't take to the water real well."

"Is she alright?" Aang asked, genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, it's nothing to worry about. She says she'll meet up with us soon," he said.

Aang decided to go show Haru's parents where they'll be staying while Sokka went off to Suki and Suri, leaving Haru and Katara waiting by the harbor for the new mystery woman.

"So, who is this girl?" Katara asked. "Is she also an earthbender?"

Haru nodded. "Yeah, we've been together for about six years now. She says that you, your brother and the Avatar have met her before." he smiled as if there was something Katara and Aang didn't know.

Katara tried to remember some of the female earthbenders they have met in Haru's town, wondering who his fiancée could be. A voice suddenly snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Hey Haru, where are you?" A female voice came from the ship as a figure walked out on to the deck. She had black hair which flowed down to her waist, she was very small, and wore thick black boots and a parka, similar to Haru's.

"I'm coming," he said, running up to the woman, and guiding her off the ship, talking to her softly. As the two got closer, Katara didn't take her eyes off the woman. She looked awfully familiar… She knew that voice, she knew that figure. It was someone she hadn't seen in many, many years. Suddenly, realization hit her with the force of one of her enormous boulders.

"Katara, I know you've already met her, but this is my fiancée." He put his arm around the woman, who stared into Katara's eyes with her blind ones.

"Hiya Sugar Queen," Toph Bei Fong said with a wide smile. "Didja miss me?"

* * *

Hehe. Yeah. Toru… a nice little ship which I found long ago (while I was reading those nick dot com fanfics). I thought it was cute, so I decided why not? Yeah. When I said I had a surprise, I bet you didn't think Toph being engaged (to Haru no less) was what the surprise was. I think someone was thinking that Katara was pregnant. Well, here's a hint: She's not pregnant… _yet_! –Wink, wink- Anyway, chapter six… I'm hoping to get that up within a week or so… College has got be buried in homework (though I still find the time to write up chapters and stuff… and then have time to spare! Hehe!) I have the attention span of a fly basically. I'd be sitting there and then I'd… Oh! Look! A flower!

(Sorry for that long authors note thingy… I like to type, in case you couldn't tell!)


	9. Chapter 6

**Edit: February 26****th****, 2009**

Okay. Here's chapter… what is it now, six? Anyway, this is the long awaited wedding chapter, so it's kinda long (nine pages on Microsoft Word, minus the author's notes), and, unfortunately for you all, it ends in a cliffhanger. But I already have chapter seven written out, so I dunno when I'll have that up. Anyway, just… go and read before I call in my guinea pig to eat you alive (even though the most he'll do is nibble on your finger… *Huggles guinea pig*)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar; however, I _do_ own Oliver: my vicious man-eating guinea pig.

* * *

Katara stared at the two, letting it sink in._ 'Toph is engaged?'_ she thought. The waterbender never thought of Toph as the kind of person who would settle down and start a family. _'Well, here's living proof that people change over the years…'_ "Well, congratulations guys!" she said with a smile. "I'm really happy for you!"

"Thanks," Haru said, as Toph scrunched up her face in concentration.

"Damn boots," she said quietly before she sighed. "I guess I'm just gonna have to believe that you're not lying."

"Of course I'm not lying, Toph. This just came to me as a bit of a shock. How did you two meet? What about your parents, Toph? Did they actually let you live with Haru?" Katara doubted that her overprotective parents would ever let their precious daughter spend even one second off the grounds, let alone with another man.

"I'll explain later," the former Blind Bandit said. "Anyway, where are Aang and Sokka? I wanna see what they've been up to!"

Guiding Toph by the hand, Haru let Katara lead them to where they were staying. Upon entering the hut, they were met by Haru's parents and Aang.

"Toph," Aang said, surprised. "What are you doing here? Why… _Toph_ is your fiancée?" He turned to Haru.

"Why are you sounding so surprised Twinkletoes?" Toph asked angrily.

"It's just that… I'm surprised that you're together with Haru… Not that it's a bad thing!" Aang added quickly, for Toph was giving him (or some point above his right shoulder) the death glare. "No, it's great. Congratulations!"

Toph muttered darkly to herself as Haru thanked him, and then turned to Aang. "Yeah, Toph's not happy," he said, stating the obvious. "She doesn't like it when she's completely blind…"

Aang nodded. "I can tell…"

* * *

After they were settled in, Katara and Aang showed Haru, Toph, Tyro, and Haru's mother around the city.

When they got to the residential areas, Sokka, Suki, Suri, and Momo were coming out of their hut. Suki smiled at the newcomers while Suri held on to Momo's tail like it was a kite string. The lemur didn't look too happy.

"Oh, hey Sokka," Katara said, just noticing her brother and his family.

"Hey guys," Sokka said. "Uh, this is my wife, Suki, and my daughter, Suri." Suki shook Haru's hand, then his parents.

"Nice to meet you," Suki said to them.

"Likewise," Haru said simply.

"Suri," Suki said turning around to her daughter. "First of all, let Momo go."

With a frown, the three-year-old let go of the lemur's tail, and Momo flew off on to Aang's shoulder.

Now kneeling down to her daughter, Suki continued. "Now can you say 'hello' to the guests?"

"Hello," she said in the same tiny voice she had used with Aang the first time they met.

"You sound cute," Toph said, following the little girl's voice and reaching to pat her head. "Wow. A short one," the earthbender said with a smile.

"Toph," Haru said, trying (and failing) to hide his smile.

"What? It's true," she said with a shrug. She had a point. "She's like a little shrimp!" Haru slapped his palm to his face in embarrassment.

* * *

After touring the rest of the city, Katara, Aang, Sokka, and Suki decided to get caught up with Toph and Haru. Haru's parents wanted to relax a bit, and Hakoda wanted to spend time with his granddaughter, so the six could spend some time together like old times.

They sat in Sokka and Suki's hut around a medium-sized table with six chairs; two of which were brought in minutes before.

They talked about life, how Katara got engaged to Aang, and then, with a guilty conscience, Aang told them that he was called to the Fire Nation, and talked to them about what went on while he was there. Katara and Aang have reached an unspoken agreement never to bring up the fight they had when he got home when it wasn't necessary.

Sokka told the earthbenders of how he and Suki got engaged, and then got married later on. Suki told them about Suri, what she's usually like, she told them funny stories about her daughter, and how excited she is about the new baby.

Then it was Toph's turn. Sokka had asked the blind girl how she came to be with Haru, and wanted to know what happened with her parents, so with a deep breath, she started.

"Well, everything was alright after you guys took me back home. My parents and I got along better since they finally understood me, but as you remember, there were more strict rules I had to abide to. I followed their rules, though. Well, mostly. I _did_ sneak out of the house some nights to earthbend, but they didn't know about it, so my parents were happy because they _thought_ I was happy."

"You weren't happy?" Katara asked, even though this didn't surprise her.

Toph shook her head. "Even though I had more freedom, I was still watched constantly. They still didn't trust me. I hoped that they would get better, that they would later understand that I'm not that helpless blind girl they had always thought I was. Unfortunately, they never got better.

"Two years later, I finally had enough. I went up to my parents to talk to them. I asked them to trust me, that I have traveled with you three," she glanced where she thought Katara, Aang and Sokka were sitting, "all over the world for over two years, and I was alright… but they didn't listen." She hung her head as she continued. "So that night, I packed my stuff and left…"

"So, you ran away?" Sokka asked. After Toph nodded, Sokka added "_Again_?" causing Katara to give her brother a less than friendly punch in the arm.

"Yes, _again_," Toph said with an exasperated sigh. "The only problem was that I had nowhere to go… I couldn't get to the South Pole on my own, and that was the only place where I had friends. I traveled all over the Earth Kingdom, using my earthbending to travel when I couldn't find any other transportation, and not too far outside of Omashu, I met Haru. I felt him earthbending, so I went up beside him to ask if he knew of anywhere I could stay…" She broke off as she started to giggle, so Haru continued.

"Anyway, she surprised me, and I thought that maybe she was a Fire Nation rebel, since there were still a lot of them still running around back then, so I hit her with an earthbending move." Haru shook his head at Toph's giggles as he continued. "I was terrified when I figured out that I hit her, and I wanted to make sure she was okay, but before I could speak, she became very mad and said "watch it lady!", so apparently, Toph thought I was a woman…" He glared at his fiancée as her giggles turned into full-blown laughter.

"Aw, come on, Haru," Toph said, still laughing. "That earthquake you sent at me didn't even shake me!" She playfully pushed Haru in his side, causing him to fall to the floor with a grunt.

"Haru, are you alright?" Katara asked the earthbender, who was picking himself off the floor.

"He's fine," Toph said, her laughs subsiding. "I do that to him all the time, right?"

"Yeah…" Haru said while rubbing where Toph hit him.

"So," Suki asked. "When are you two getting married?"

"You know," Haru started, looking at his fiancée, "we've never really discussed that…"

"Guess it never came up much after he proposed to me." Toph shrugged, then continued with her story as though there were no interruptions. "So anyway, I met with his parents and they were nice enough to let me stay with them for a while. Haru and I started to get along pretty well, we'd have sparring matches against each other, and of course, I beat Haru every time, and we just… had fun. I was finally happy."

"We got together about a year later," Haru continued, "and two years after, we got engaged. Then Toph and I got our own place near my parents, and… that's it…"

"Cool," Sokka said. "So… are you two thinking about having kids?"

Toph's pale eyes widened while the smallest of blushes came across Haru's face.

"Actually, no," Toph said.

"Not for a while now, at least," Haru finished.

"What do you mean 'not for a while'?" Toph questioned Haru's chin.

"Well, don't you want kids?" he asked cautiously.

Toph thought for a moment. "Well, I dunno, I mean, I don't think I'd be a good mother… I wouldn't even be able to see my baby. It'll be very difficult." The earthbender shrugged.

"Okay," Haru said, wanting to get off the subject. "We don't have to talk about this now. Not for a while… so Aang…" He turned his attention to the airbender sitting across from him at the table. "You and Katara… you're getting married… fun stuff…"

* * *

Over the next week, more guests arrived for the wedding: The Kyoshi Warriors, along with Oyaji, arrived the day after Haru and his family did, Than, Ying, and eleven-year-old Hope came into port two days later. The day before the wedding, a large fleet of Water Tribe members from the North arrived. Eager to take part in the Avatar's wedding, many of the Northern Water Tribe members spent over one month at sea, not stopping for anything as they had to travel all the way across the world.

"They've made excellent timing!" Hakoda commented as he watched the ship pull into the harbor.

* * *

The next morning, tension filled the bitter cold air of the South Pole. Though the wedding wasn't until sunset, everyone was up at the crack of dawn preparing for the wedding. Chairs were set out by the fountain, where the ceremony was to take place, the decorations were added around the area, the banquet hall was prepared for the reception, and the food was coming along. Everything was ready by mid-afternoon. Things were going smoothly.

* * *

Aang was terrified. He had never been so nervous in his entire life. Even fighting the Fire Lord was less nerve-wracking than getting married. Sokka had told him that it was normal to be nervous when you're getting married. He then went on telling the airbender about how, at his wedding, he accidentally said Yue's name rather than Suki's during the ceremony. Lucky for him, Suki was petrified herself, hardly hearing Sokka say his vows. Haru then talked to Aang about his embarrassing moments with Toph, and soon, all the other men were laughing and sharing funny stories about their relationships. Aang soon started to calm down, feeling even more ready than ever.

* * *

The lady's days started out no better. Katara was an anxious wreck that morning as she tried to put on her slip upside-down. Ying, who took pity on the poor girl, rushed over to put it right.

Before getting into their formal wear, the women sat around, gossiping and joking. Suki, with her small posse of Kyoshi Warriors, Ying was laughing with Haru's mother and a few Water Tribe women. Katara sat with Hope, who had really taken a liking to Katara. The waterbender figured that would be the case seeing as how she was the one who delivered the now eleven-year-old all those years ago on the Serpent's Pass. The two young women were happily chatting away as Suri sat on her aunt's lap while Katara braided her hair.

All too soon, it was time for the girls to get into their gowns and start getting ready for the wedding.

* * *

Sunset was just an hour away, and even more tension than before was swimming around the air, affecting anyone who breathed it in. Last minute preparations were made, and soon, all of the women were dressed and gathered in one large ice building, touching up their hair or makeup.

"Hello Auntie 'Tara!" A tiny high-pitched voice called out from the chattering ladies. Suri soon came into view wearing a bright pink dress with white stockings, a pink barrette in her braided hair, while her little hands clutched onto the handle of a small white basket, which had a pink ribbon around it.

"Hello Suri," Katara said kneeling down to the flower girl. "Don't you look pretty?"

The little girl giggled and nodded. "I've been practicing! Look!" Sticking her hand in the basket, she took out a fistful of small white flower petals. She then proceeded to throw them up into the air.

Katara laughed as she gathered up all the flowers which had fallen to the floor, and in her and in Suri's hair. "Very good Suri," the bride said as she put the flowers back into the basket. "But let's not do that till the wedding, okay?"

"Okay!" The three-year-old then ran off to find her mother as the waterbender smiled and shook her head.

"Are you ready Katara?" someone from behind said. She turned around to see her father making his way towards her.

"Dad," Katara yelled as she gave him a hug. "What are you doing here?"

Hakoda looked at her with a playful 'duh' expression on his face. "Aren't I supposed to walk you down the aisle?"

"Oh, right, right," the waterbender said, slapping her forehead.

"Anyway, you ready?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. A-almost," Katara hoped that her father hadn't noticed the nervous overtone to her voice. Apparently he had, for he gave his daughter a calming look and took her aside.

"I know you're nervous," Hakoda started, "and I can't say that you shouldn't be, but everything's gonna work out for the best. You and Aang are gonna have a great life and maybe have some little air or waterbenders." He and his daughter laughed before he continued his speech. "Anyway, Aang's a great guy. You're gonna have him to support you, and you'll have your family to support you too."

Katara took a deep breath before speaking, letting her father's words soak in. "Thanks Dad. You don't know how much that means to me. I feel better now." Hakoda pulled Katara into him, giving her a firm, but gentle, hug as Katara whispered to him once more. "I just wish Mom and Gran-Gran could be here to see this…"

"I'm sure they are looking down at us right now," he said quietly. "Come on," he said after the two broke apart and noticed that the room was now near empty as everyone had gone off to wait for the wedding to begin.

Katara smiled as her father offered her his arm, and clutched onto it.

The ceremony was wonderful. A priest performed the service right in front of the large fountain. The area was beautifully decorated. There were two sides with small white chairs in which the guests sat, and right down the middle, a midnight blue carpet was rolled out. Little Suri walked just a few steps ahead of Katara and Hakoda, throwing flowers every which way, while Aang, who was at the end of the long runner, waited anxiously for his bride. Finally, after what seemed like hours to Aang, Hakoda and Katara made it to the end. With a kiss on the cheek, Hakoda let go of his daughter and took his seat.

"Wow," Aang whispered to the woman before him. "You look gorgeous." Katara smiled in thanks before letting the priest proceed.

The whole ceremony didn't take too much longer than ten minutes. Vows were exchanged, and the "I do's" were said.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the priest finally said. "You may kiss the bride."

With a smile, Aang pulled Katara into their first kiss as husband and wife. The crowd before them got to their feet and erupted in cheers as the two broke the kiss and started to walk back up the aisle, friends and family still applauding the newlyweds.

Aang and Katara led the way over to the banquet hall, hand in hand. They just didn't seem like they ever wanted to let go of each other. The two arrived in the hall, closely followed by the rest.

* * *

The reception went by without too much action. After a few speeches were made to the happy couple, it was time to dance. Soft music played while Hakoda and Katara danced together before Aang was permitted to take her hand. Soon, they were joined by everyone else. After a little while, Master Pakku thought it would be nice to put on a waterbending show with some of his and a couple of Katara's best students. Katara watched with a big smile on her face as the group picked up the water and spun it around, almost looking like an interpreted dance. It reminded her of the show she saw in the North Pole all those years ago. The hall filled with applause once they finished, and the water landed neatly back into the large basins that sat in front of them.

Next, much to Sokka and Suri's delight, the cake was served. Suri was glad that Katara and Aang had chosen a chocolate cake, thinking that they did that because of her father's fairy tales, where they _always_ had a chocolate cake. Neither Katara nor Aang had the heart to tell her that they chose it because they thought it was better than vanilla…

Each person took their seats at one of the dozen large tables, which sat about ten people, ready for the cake. At one table sat Aang, with a little lemur on his shoulder, right next to his wife, while Hakoda sat across the table, chatting away with Bato. Next to Katara was Suki. Little Suri sat in between her mother and father. Across from the table, right next to the two men were Haru and Toph. The room's occupants were enjoying the food, while others conversed with one another about various issues or coming up to the table the newlyweds were seated, congratulating them on their marriage. It wasn't long before Suki and Katara's conversation turned towards her unborn baby.

"It's been moving around a lot," Suki said, giggling.

"Maybe it wants out," Suri suggested.

Suki smiled at her daughter. "Nope, it's not gonna be here for another two weeks." She pat the three-year-old on the shoulder before turning her attention to the waterbender. "So Katara," Suki said with a smile. "Are you and Aang thinking on having kids of your own someday?"

Aang, who had just taken a sip of some water, coughed and sputtered, while Momo, not prepared for this, got scared and flew over to Hakoda, who smiled and scratched the lemur's head, still listening closely to the conversation.

"Heh… well," Katara started, blushing a bit. "Yeah, I think having kids would be great. Besides," she added as an afterthought, "_somebody's_ gotta re-populate the Air Nomads."

The women laughed, soon joined in by the others (except for a mortified Aang, and a confused Suri, who didn't know a thing about how babies were made).

"Auntie Top?" the young girl asked across the table. Even though Toph _technically_ wasn't her aunt, she still grew accustomed to addressing to her as such.

"What do you want, shrimp?" The blind girl asked in a teasing voice, using her nickname.

"Where to babies come from?" It was near impossible for the others to hold in their laughter.

Haru, unfortunately, had just taken a bite out of his cake and started choking. He was saved when Toph slapped him hard on the back, successfully dislodging the food. "Wha-what did she say?" he asked, eyes watering.

"I axed Auntie Top where babies come from!" she explained with a wide smile.

All eyes were on Toph as they waited for her answer. "The stork-weasel," she said simply, and without hesitation.

Luckily, Suri didn't hear everyone's sigh of relief, or the few giggles from Katara and Suki.

* * *

After another eventless hour, Suki leaned in towards Katara.

"Katara," she said, not looking too well, "I am so sorry to do this, but I'm not feeling too well. I think I should go home and lay down for a bit."

Not at all offended, Katara replied. "That's alright. I understand. You need what's best for you and the baby." She smiled.

Suki smiled, hugging her friend, before congratulating both her and Aang.

"Come on Suri," she said as she grabbed her daughter by her arm and left with Sokka.

The table went back to eating; Katara joined in a conversation between Bato and Aang for a few more minutes before a pale-faced Sokka rushed back in.

"Sokka, what's…?" But before Katara could answer, Sokka yelled for her to follow him. The hall fell silent. Hakoda and Bato walked outside to see what was wrong.

Katara followed her brother to Suki, who lay on the ground, panting heavily. Sokka got to his knees, putting one arm under his wife's back, while Suki clutched his hand, with her other on her abdomen.

Suri stood next to her mother, looking worried. "Is Mommy okay?" she asked her father. Sokka just nodded.

"Sokka what's…?" Katara said, kneeling down to him and his wife. It took the waterbender a moment to realize what was going on. "Oh dear Yue, Suki's in labor!"

"Oh, ya think?" Suki yelled through a contraction.

"Come on," Katara said as she took one of Suki's arms. Sokka took the hint and grabbed her other arm. The two siblings stood, bringing up the expecting mother with difficulty. "We have to get her to the infirmary."

"Katara," Aang appeared, wondering what all the chaos was about. "What's going on?"

"It's Suki," she said breathless from the pregnant woman's weight. "She's having the baby."


	10. Chapter 7

**Edit: February 26****th****, 2009**

Hello! How are you all doing? Isn't season three just the greatest so far? So full of Kataang! –Drools- Well, last night's Painted Lady episode wasn't very Kataang-y… whatever. Anyway, uh, sorry this chapter is a little later than it was going to be. I procrastinated on sending it to my beta. I've just been real busy with school, and homework, and school, and volunteering, and school, and about a million other things… Did I mention school? Yeah… I have chapter eight done, and most of chapter nine, but as usual, I dunno when it'll be up…

So this chapter is basically just Suki giving birth to her daughter/son. You'll find out the gender soon enough! ~_^

**Disclaimer:**…Um… no. –Headglider-

* * *

It had been three hours since Suki went into labor. Katara, who was no longer wearing her wedding gown, and nurses had been with Suki since then, monitoring the time between contractions, deciding when she was ready to have the baby.

"How are you doing?" Katara asked Suki. It had been a few minutes since her last contraction.

"I'm alright," Suki paused as she felt another contraction coming. She started breathing heavily. "But… I just… feel like I… I… ruined your wedding…"

"It's no problem, Suki," Katara said. "It was just the reception! Besides, it was about to end anyway."

"But still, I just feel bad…" Suki looked away from her sister-in-law.

"Don't worry about it." The newly wedded woman put a hand on Suki's shoulder. "Everything's gonna be fine." Suki didn't have the energy to complain right now, so she just nodded.

* * *

Katara had left the infirmary a few hours later to find Sokka, Aang, who was busy holding Suri, the Kyoshi Warriors, along with what looked like the rest of the wedding party outside.

"It won't be long now," she told Sokka and Aang, though everyone else around them listened in. "Do you wanna be there with Suki, Sokka?" the waterbender asked her brother.

Sokka hesitated before answering. "Okay, I will. But I'm _not_ looking… uh… _down there_…"

Katara giggled. That's exactly what Sokka said during Suri's birth.

"Okay Sokka, I know. You don't have to look '_down there_'," his sister said somewhat sympathetically. "Just come with me."

"Can I come?" Suri asked with a pleading tone in her voice that made Katara's heart melt.

"I'm sorry sweetie," she said walking over to her niece, who was still in the airbender's arms. "This is grown-up stuff we're dealing with." Suri pouted while Sokka kissed her forehead and followed his sister into the infirmary.

* * *

"Sokka," Suki gasped seeing her husband enter. She was obviously very far along in labor; many of the nurses were gathered around, checking to see how much longer it would be until she was ready to give birth. Suki was panting more heavily than ever, and, despite the freezing cold, she was sweating.

Sokka then walked over to his wife and squeezed her hand while Katara went to get herself prepared for the birth.

"How are you doing?" he asked his wife.

"Well," Suki snapped, annoyed at being asked such an obvious question, "let me knee you in the groin and ask you the same thing!" Sokka took the hint and nodded with a barley audible 'sorry'.

A few minutes later, Katara got right at the bottom of the cot she was laying on. "Okay Suki. Are you ready?"

Suki tried to speak, but all that came out was a whimper, so she just contented herself with nodding.

"Okay," the waterbender said with a smile. "Ready… push!"

* * *

Outside, everyone anxiously waited. The Kyoshi Warriors were nervously talking amongst themselves; Toph and Haru were talking about the wedding, while Aang stood, still with Suri in his arms. Suddenly, they heard a scream come from the hut.

"That's Mommy!" Suri cried, trying to wiggle out of Aang's arms, but the airbender just tightened his grip around her, reassuring the little one that her Mother was fine.

Once more, Suki screamed; but this time, however, her scream was followed by the cry of a newborn baby. Everyone fell silent, all eyes on the entrance to the infirmary, eagerly awaiting Katara, or else another one of the nurses to come out and announce the birth. Sure enough, after a few minutes, Katara emerged with a smile on her face.

"It's a boy!" she excitedly announced. The small crowd cheered and hugged each other.

"Can we see Suki yet?"

"I wanna see the baby!"

"Is it okay if we see how they're doing?"

"I wanna see my Mommy and my brother!"

Everyone spoke out at once, and Katara put a hand up, silencing them immediately. "The last thing Suki and the baby need right now is a large crowd. You all can see her later. She needs to rest." Everyone nodded understandingly as Katara walked up to Aang and Suri. "But she wants her daughter to meet her new brother."

The three-year-old smiled as Aang followed Katara back inside, where Sokka stood at the side of a cot where Suki lay, cradling a bundle of blankets.

"Hey Suri," Suki said, looking up to see her daughter enter. Aang set Suki down on the ground, and she ran over to the cot, and Sokka lifted his daughter up onto the bed, next to her mother.

"Is this my brother?" she asked, looking at the slightly tan, though a little pink colored infant who stared back at his sister with big brown eyes.

"Yes," her mother said simply. "This is your new brother, Tayo."

"Tayo," Suri repeated with a smile. She bent down low over the baby and gave him a kiss on his cheek, while Tayo whined slightly.

"How are you feeling, Suki?" Katara asked.

"Great. A little tired and sore, but otherwise great." Suki smiled up at her sister-in-law, who grinned.

"Then get some rest," she said, taking the baby and gently putting him in a small cradle which had been placed next to the cot. "We all know you'll need it soon!"

Suki laughed weakly before giving Suri one last hug and kiss.

"I'll take her home," Sokka whispered to his wife, kissing her forehead. Suki nodded as Sokka picked up his protesting daughter.

"But I wanna stay with Mommy and Tayo!" She whined.

"Sorry Suri, but Mommy and Tayo need to rest for a while. You can see them soon," her father said as the three-year-old frowned.

"Okay. Bye Mommy, bye Tayo," she said, waving. "I love you."

Suki smiled at her precious daughter. "I love you, too, sweetheart." She said just above a whisper as Sokka left the hut, followed closely by Aang and Katara.

* * *

Aww! Isn't that sweet? The next chapter's a Sokka/Suki/Suri/Tayo chapter. Aang and Katara are off honeymooning, and I'm not gonna show that cause this story is rated "T" XD Anyway, I didn't get too many reviews for my last chapter… So just review on your way out and I'll be happy!


	11. Chapter 8

**Edit: January 30th, 2010**

Yup! Chapter eight is finally up! Sorry for the delay. My beta and I have been very busy… -Curses College- Anyway, this chapter is about Sokka, Suki, Suri and Tayo and basically how things are going with that family and stuff like that. Sorry if this chapter sucks. There were certain important aspects of the story that I didn't know how to write, but _had_ to put in… But (like I said in a much, much earlier chapter), this would've completely sucked if it weren't for daydream11! –Huggles- Anyway, I'll shut up now so you can read this…

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I'm only keeping this up so I don't get sued…

The next day, Suki and her new son went back home, though Suki was advised to stay in bed for a couple days to rest. Needless to say, she and her new baby had several visitors, from the Kyoshi Warriors to some of the village elders who cooed over Tayo.

Tayo, who's skin had lost a little bit of its pink tint, was now a few shades darker than Suki, though still a little lighter than Sokka. He still had his big brown eyes, however, just like his mother and sister, and he had dark brown hair, similar to Sokka's.

Surprisingly, Suri had been doing very well for a child who had just received a new sibling for the first time. If she was jealous of the attention that Tayo was getting, she hid it well. It was like Sokka always said, 'She's very mature for her age. Very much like I was at three', to which Katara would reply with a laugh and a reminder that he _still _wasn't as mature as Suri was now.

* * *

The next day, the Kyoshi Warriors, along with Oyaji, said that it was time for them to head back to Kyoshi Island, while Yin, Than, Hope, and Haru's parents also decided it was time to head back as well. Haru and Toph however, wanted to stay with their friends for a little while longer, so Tyro and his wife bid everyone a farewell and congratulations, before heading off right behind the Warriors of Kyoshi. The Northern Water Tribe inhabitants also decided to stay for a little longer since they had traveled so far and it would seem like a waste after leaving after only two days, so the waterbenders all went out to build extra shelters for the visitors.

Once everything seemed to calm down, Katara and Aang decided to get their honeymoon going, so a few hours after the Earth Kingdom inhabitants left, the newlyweds boarded up on Appa, where Momo joined them.

"Sorry Momo," Aang said as he pet the lemur in his lap. "I think it'd be best if you stayed here. You can stay with Sokka and play with Suri. Just keep out of Suki's hair; she's very busy and tired."

Momo looked a little nervous when Aang mentioned that he'd be spending a while with Suri, who's favorite game was 'pull the lemur's tail'. Nonetheless, he jumped off the giant bison and onto Sokka's shoulder as the warrior waved to his sister and brother-in-law.

"Yip, yip," Aang cried, and Appa made his way to the Southern Air Temple.

* * *

The next morning, Suki was awakened early by Tayo's crying. Still half asleep, she got to her feet and shuffled over to the room right in front of her and Sokka's.

"Mommy's coming," she said, exhausted as she entered the baby's room. She went over to the child's crib and picked him up. "What's the matter, baby? Are you hungry?" She sat down on the wooden rocking chair, next to the crib as she undid her nightshirt to feed her son. Within moments, the newborn was sucking away happily as Suki tried not to doze off. About 30 seconds later, a small voice was heard from the doorway.

"Mommy?" Suki looked up to see a half-asleep Suri in her blue pajamas, rubbing one of her eyes.

"Suri honey, what are you doing up?" Suki asked her daughter.

"I thought I heard Tayo crying again," she said, referring to the other night where he had cried very early in the morning. "Is he okay?"

"Yes, he's fine," Suki said. "He was just hungry."

Suri nodded, still standing in the doorway, watching the infant suck on their mother's nipple. Finally, she walked over to her mother and brother, still watching him eat. "Why is he eating that?" The three-year-old pointed to her mother's breast. Suki laughed.

"He's not eating it," she said. "He's drinking the milk inside."

Suri looked confused. "There's milk in there?"

Her mother nodded. "Yes. When a mommy is pregnant, her body makes milk so that her baby can eat."

"Why?" Suri asked. The former Kyoshi Warrior sighed tiredly. Her daughter was very much in the "question all" stage.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully.

"Okay!" Suri said, satisfied as Tayo stopped eating and yawned. Suki then buttoned up her night shirt again and started rocking her son. "Can you rock me too?" Suri asked. The 25-year-old woman smiled at her daughter and nodded. She shifted Tayo to one side while Suri climbed up on her other side. Once the little girl had found a comfortable position, Suki began to rock once more; this time, she sang her two children a soft lullaby. Soon, the three drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Sokka awoke in his bed and put his arm over where Suki usually slept on the other side. The problem was that there was no Suki… Sokka sat up and looked around the room for any sign of his wife.

"Suki…?" He asked to the empty room. There was no answer. Suki was _always _there in the morning, and if she had to go out, she'd leave a note. Confused, Sokka got up to look around the house for her. "Maybe she's with Tayo…" he said to himself. He made his way over to the nursery and opened the door. The sight of his wife, daughter, and son, all asleep on the rocking chair met his eyes, making him smile widely. Not wanting to disturb the three, he quietly stepped out of the room and closed the door.

* * *

Suki jumped a little when she thought she heard a door closing. The woman tried to stand up and stretch, but she found that something in her lap had her arms and legs trapped. She looked down and saw her sleeping son and daughter in her lap. That's when Suki remembered what had happened the night before.

Careful not to wake Suri, or the newborn Tayo, she shifted their positions on her body and stood up, Tayo cradled in one arm, and Suri with her arms draped over her mother's shoulders. The mother carefully placed Tayo in his cradle, where he shifted in his sleep, then she made her way to the room next door and placed Suri in her small bed. After tucking her daughter in, careful not to wake the little lemur lying beside her pillow, she quietly made her way back to her room to find Sokka lying on the bed with a soft smile on his face.

"Hey," he whispered as he watched his wife enter their room.

"Hey," she murmured back as she walked over to the bed and lay next to Sokka.

"So," Sokka started as he put his arm around Suki, "rough night with the children?"

Suki giggled. "Guess I just dozed off a bit."

Sokka smiled. "I noticed."

"Yeah," she yawned. "Well, it's still early. Let's try to get a couple more hours of sleep." As she turned around and closed her eyes, she felt Sokka gently breathing in her ear.

"Sleeping wasn't exactly what I had in mind…"

Laughing lightly, Suki pushed Sokka off the bed.

* * *

A few hours later, the four were gathered around the table eating breakfast. In between bites of her cereal, Suri was telling her Father what she wanted to do today, while Suki listened as she fed Tayo.

"But why can't Tayo go penguin sledding too?" Suri whined as she put her spoon back into her bowl, looking over to her mother and brother next to her. She didn't notice when Momo quietly flew onto the table and proceeded to eat the little girl's breakfast.

"I _told _you Suri," Sokka said, "he's much too young. In a few years, you two can go together, okay?"

"Alright," the three-year-old sighed. "But _I_ can still go, can't I?" she asked her parents brightly. They had to laugh at her sudden enthusiasm.

"Of course you can." Sokka smiled at his daughter. "I'll even go with you!"

Suki shook her head. _Suri _was supposed to be the child… "Alright, but while you two do that, I'm gonna take Tayo to Hakoda. He wants to get to know his grandson."

"Okay," Suri said happily as Momo flew away just before she turned back to her food, picking up her spoon.

"Suri, don't—" Before Sokka could tell his daughter that the lemur had had his face in the bowl, she had already taken a bite.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"N-nevermind…" Sokka said, turning away, grimacing.

* * *

After an agreement was made between the three that they would meet back in a couple of hours for lunch, they got into their everyday-wear, which consisted of fur coats, gloves, scarves, boots, and for little Tayo, a little blue snowsuit onesie, which once belonged to his sister.

After leaving their snow hut and stepping out into the harsh Arctic weather, the four went their separate ways. Suki and Tayo went to where Hakoda lived, while Sokka and Suri went to go find a penguin.

* * *

Two hours later, wet, cold, and panting heavily, Sokka and Suri made their way back up the hill one last time, while the penguins waddled back to their territory, relieved that their job was done.

"Suri," Sokka's eyes narrowed in wonder. "What happened to your scarf?"

Suri looked down at her neck, a small blush forming across her cheeks, which luckily, Sokka didn't notice. "Oh, um, I dunno… maybe the wind took it?"

Sokka knew that his daughter was lying, but he didn't really have the time to play games. "Okay. Let's just go back to meet Mommy and Tayo for lunch."

"Okay!" Suri said as she ran ahead of Sokka, making her way home. Sokka shook his head. That girl had _way_ too much energy.

Before entering the residential area of the South Pole, Suri saw her Mother, with Tayo in her arms, making her way to the hill where the children of the city would go Penguin Sledding.

"Mommy, Tayo!" she yelled, waving over to the two.

"Hey Suri," Suki said as she stopped in front of the three-year-old. "Where's your father?"

Before Suri could answer, Sokka appeared a few yards behind Suri, panting. "Right here; I just can't run as fast as a three-year-old."

Suki smiled widely and cradled Tayo close. "Alright guys. Are you hungry?"

Sokka just stood there staring at his wife. "This is _me_ we're talking about, Suki."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Let's go and eat."

"Look!" Suri suddenly exclaimed, pointing behind her parents to a penguin waddling up to the four, talking his little penguin talk. "It's Mister Penguin!"

Suki looked at Sokka, mouthing _'Mister Penguin?' _before Sokka smiled and shook his head. Suki giggled, but then, something about the penguin caught her eye. How could she have missed this?

"Um, Suri," she asked. "_Why_ is that penguin wearing your scarf?"

Suri blushed. "_What_ scarf?"

* * *

Yeah. I couldn't find a good opening to put why Suriput the scarf on Mister Penguin. (About the name, don't ask…) Anyway, it was really because she thought that he was cold so she gave it her scarf. I dunno… Anyway, it'll be at _least_ a week for chapter nine. My beta's probably sick of looking over my stories with me breathing over her shoulder like "Are you done yet? How 'bout now…? Now…? She asked for (and deserves) a break! Things start picking up during the next two chapters… And I have no idea where to go from there! So… dunno. Please review!


	12. Chapter 9

**Edit: January 30th, 2010**

Yay! Finally chapter nine is here! Well, this chapter does sorta end in a cliffhanger, so I hope you all don't hate me. Sorry it's a little late. (Where have you heard that sentence before? --) Anyway, I'm getting help with my ADD problem so I can get my schoolwork done faster, so hopefully, I'll have more free time to write (even though that hasn't stopped me before…) And lastly, the semester ends on December 17th, so hopefully my beta and I will be able to get these up sooner.

Anyway, sorry for this long author's note thing. I always have lots to say (obviously…) so why don't I let you all read the story now…

**

* * *

Disclaimer:** Do we really have to go through this every chapter? I don't own Avatar! Why do you all have to rub it in? –Sobs-

Katara and Aang returned about a week later. Once Appa landed, Katara and Aang hopped off the bison, and were met my Suki, Sokka, Suri, Tayo, Toph, Haru and Hakoda.

"Auntie 'Tara!" Suri squealed as she jumped into her aunt's arms, while Momo, looking relieved that he didn't have to spend one more second with the three-year-old terror, flew onto Aang's shoulder, chattering away.

"Hello Suri," the waterbender said as she hugged her niece.

"Hey. How was your love-fest?" Toph asked loudly as she moved towards Suki and Tayo with Haru rushing over to her.

"Um, Toph," he said. "Katara and Aang are over here." The earthbender guided his fiancée over to the two.

"Oh… um, I knew that…" Toph muttered with a faint blush. "So, as I was saying, how was your love-fest?"

"_Toph_," it was now Katara's turn to blush.

"Oh come on," the blind girl said, rolling her eyes. "Don't tell me that you didn't do anything on your honeymoon."

"Not _now_ Toph…" Katara mumbled to her friend as she gently put her niece on the ground. The little girl ran back to her mother and father.

"Hey Dad," Katara smiled as she hugged her father.

"How was everything?" Chief Hakoda asked his daughter.

"Everything was great." the waterbender said while she pulled herself out of her father's arms.

Hakoda smiled. "If you need anything, you know where to find me."

Katara and Aang both smiled at him before the newlyweds went back to their hut with Appa and Momo following closely behind.

* * *

"Hey! How was the honeymoon?" Sokka asked about an hour later as he walked into his sister's and new brother-in-law's hut.

"Um… come in?" Katara said as she broke the kiss she and Aang were sharing.

"Thank you," Sokka said before sitting down between the new couple. "So, what did you two do?" He smiled and winked at Aang as he nudged his side with his elbow. Aang blushed before Katara answered.

"We did a little rebuilding of the Air Temple," answered honestly. The two did, in fact, rebuild parts of the Southern Air Temple to make it more suitable for living. The couple thought of maybe moving there one day, since they planned on having many children.

Sokka smirked, clearly not believing them.

"Really, we did…" then Katara added quietly to Aang so Sokka couldn't hear, "…among other things."

"Alright, I believe you…" Sokka said, knowing they did in fact do more than rebuild a temple. "So anyway, just out of curiosity, why did you rebuild the temple?

"I thought it would be nice to raise a family there eventually," Aang replied with a shrug.

"Oh…" Sokka said quietly with a nod. Then what Aang had said sunk into his mind. "Wait… you're gonna raise your family in the Southern Air Temple? What about your family _here_?" He turned towards his sister.

"We were just talking about it." Katara said, holding both of her hands up in defense. "We may not even do it. If we do, it won't be till we start having kids."

"And _when_ exactly will you be having these 'kids'?" Sokka asked.

Katara rolled her eyes. "I dunno… a year or two maybe? Why should it matter to you?"

Sokka shrugged. "It's just… not pleasant imagining your little sister and your best friend doing… things…"

"Then I suggest you leave." Katara smiled at her brother, who looked disgusted.

"Oh sweet Yue… I'm outta here." Sokka shook his head, trying to rid the thought of what would be happening when he left.

"Thanks for coming!" Katara called brightly. Aang's face couldn't get much redder; you'd still believe that he was his old 12-year-old self.

* * *

The next day, Katara went back to teaching the younger children waterbending just like she did before Aang returned. Only this time, she was usually accompanied by the airbender who just wanted to sit and watch. He was amazed at how great she was with kids. Aang couldn't wait to have some of his own someday. Maybe sometime in the near future if Katara was willing… Aang was snapped out of his thoughts when a splash of ice-cold water hit his head.

"Sorry!" a little girl yelled as the Avatar jumped up and rubbed his head where the water had hit him. "I need to work on my aim…"

"That was better than your first try. But let's see if we can keep Aang dry next time." Katara laughed.

"Uh, yeah, sorry 'bout that, Avatar Aang." the seven-year-old girl said, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment.

* * *

The next week went by without too much activity. The Northern Water Tribe citizens still remained in the South Pole, as did Haru and Toph who have been thinking of starting to plan their wedding after partaking in Aang and Katara's marriage ceremony.

Sokka and Suki were more frequently exhausted because of Tayo, who wouldn't be sleeping through the night for a few more months, but Suri was always a huge help with the baby, whom she had created a close bond with, though her parents handled all the big jobs.

Katara continued to teach her students waterbending, sometimes with the help of Aang while demonstrating sparring matches. She was glad that some of her students who have been struggling for the past few months with certain wrist movements were finally getting the hang of it.

"That's it! There you go!" Katara yelled in excitement as one of the young boys demonstrated a perfect water whip about a week after she and Aang returned from their honeymoon. "That was perfect!" The waterbending master said with a smile.

"Master Katara, I can't do it!" another child yelled from nearby.

"Let me see, Mika," she walked over to the five-year-old girl to see what she was doing wrong.

Mika tried to make a water whip, but she wasn't able to get the whip more than a few inches above the pond before it fell back into the water with a soft splash.

"Ah. That move took me a while to master." Katara said as she remembered trying to perfect that move from the waterbending scroll she stole all those years ago. That was a very difficult technique for her to master. "You should first learn to master the basics before moving on to the more difficult moves."

The little girl pouted. "But Milo can do it!" she cried, pointing to her brother, who had just moments ago been able to produce a perfect water whip.

"Well, Milo's a little older than you are. He mastered the basics months ago. You'll get it!" When this didn't seem to cheer Mika up, she added, "I was once like you. I thought I was weak since I wasn't a very good waterbender."

"_You_ had trouble waterbending too?" the little girl asked, hardly believing that her teacher was once a mediocre bender as well.

"Of course, but do you know what made me a master?" Katara asked her pupil.

"Being in love with the Avatar?" Mika smiled up at her teacher.

Katara just laughed. "No, no, not that; I'm talking about _practice_," she said simply.

Satisfying the older woman with a smile, Mika decided to practice more with streaming the water.

After a few minutes, Katara decided it was time to wrap things up. "Okay. I think that's it—" She put a hand to her head. All of a sudden, she was feeling a little light headed. She shook her head and took a deep breath.

"Master Katara, what's wrong?" Milo asked. Katara looked up to see Milo, Mika and the other six students looking up at their teacher, obviously worried.

"I-it's nothing. I'm fine," she lied. "Um, as I was saying, that's it for t-today."

Still glancing worriedly at Katara, the eight students walked away as Katara sat down to rest_. 'Of course,'_ she thought to herself. _'The _one_ time I need Aang is the_ one_ time he's off with my father…'_

Just before the start of the waterbending lesson, Hakoda had come up to Aang asking to discuss some sort of 'politics' with him. Aang _did_ say he would catch up with her later…

Katara started to feel a little better while she was sitting. She decided to get up and go home so she could lie down. As she got to her feet and started walking back into the city, she held a hand to her spinning head, putting one foot in front of the other, slowly making her way into the city. Shortly before entering the tribe, Katara suddenly stopped and took deep breaths. She didn't know where it came from, but suddenly, she became very nauseous.

'_Dear Yue, what is wrong with me?'_ she asked herself as she felt her nausea grow.

"Katara," she heard her name being called out from a few yards in front of her. Looking up at the voice, she saw Aang moving towards her. "Hey! Sorry I took so long… Anyway, I just came to look for you and one of your students told me you were still out here…" The airbender's eyes widened when he moved closer to his wife and noticed her pale face. "Are you alright? You don't look too good."

"I-I dunno. I feel—" Katara was cut off when her nausea reached an unbearable point. Turning away from Aang, she then proceeded to spill her lunch right then and there.

"Katara…!" Aang cried as he turned to his sick wife, patting her back.

After a couple minutes, Katara straightened up, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand.

"Are you okay?" Aang asked her, truly worried.

"Yeah," she gasped. "I-I just wanna go home and lay down."

Aang nodded and took Katara by the hand, guiding her back to the city. As they walked along the icy sidewalks, Katara noticed Toph and Haru walking together, hand in hand, happily chatting away. The waterbender smiled. She never thought she'd _ever_ see Toph _that_ happy with a man… or that happy at all for that matter when she was completely blind.

Once Katara and Aang had arrived at their home, Aang led her to the bedroom and helped her into bed.

"Is there anything you need?" he asked.

Katara just shook her head. "Nah; I'm good." Aang smiled sweetly before kissing her forehead. He thought it was strange that she seemed so sick, though she had no fever. He shrugged it off and turned towards the door. Before he was able to leave though, Katara gasped.

"Katara, what's—?" Before Aang could finish his sentence, Katara interrupted him.

"Aang, can you please get Toph in here?"

"Why do you want Toph?" he asked, confused.

"Please Aang," she begged. Aang stared at her suspiciously. There was something she wasn't telling him.

"Okay…" he said unsurely as he walked out.

About ten minutes passed by when Aang entered the room, this time, with Toph and Haru following closely behind.

"What's up?" Toph asked quietly, making Katara think that Aang had told them about her condition before.

"Um," the waterbender sighed as she looked back at Aang and Haru. "Do you guys mind if you give us a little privacy?"

"Uh, sure…" Aang said slowly. "Why do you…?"

"Thanks Aang," Katara smiled sweetly before the Avatar could finish.

Aang and Haru walked out of the room and closed the door.

"What do you think that was about?" Haru asked. Aang shook his head.

"I have no idea. Katara has been acting real funny lately. Last night, she yelled at me for feeding Appa 'healthy plants'. He shrugged, "and when I confronted her about it a few minutes later, she started crying. I dunno _what's_ with her…"

"Maybe it's… a marriage thing?" Haru shrugged. "I mean, you two just got married a few weeks ago. Maybe she's just stressed…" The earthbender didn't even seem to believe what he had said, knowing fully that he was doing nothing but rambling.

"I-I guess…?"

The two stood in an awkward silence for the next few minutes before Katara and Toph appeared in the doorway.

"What was that all about?" Aang asked his wife. Katara was smiling widely, and looked like she could explode with joy at any second.

"Aang," she said in a shaky voice as she swung her arms around his neck. "Aang, this is fantastic!"

"What's fantastic?" He asked, gently taking her hands off of his neck and holding them in his hands. "Katara, are you finally gonna tell me why you've been acting so weird lately?" Aang realized a little too late that he sounded like he was angry at his wife.

Luckily, Katara didn't seem to notice his tone. Instead, she grasped his hands more tightly in hers and said just two words. "I'm pregnant!"

* * *

And that's the end of the chapter! –Gets pelted with rotten fruit-

Long annoying author's note below; proceed with extreme caution:

(You have been warned)

OMG! Katara's pregnant… _seriously_!? Yes she is! I'm having a lot of fun with pregnant Katara's personality. Mood swings, cravings, though you won't see much of that till chapter 11! As of now, I have chapters 10 and 11 finished, chapter 12 is about halfway finished and I have about one sentence of chapter 13 started…

Now, I have no idea how many chapters there will be. Maybe about 20 give or take? I dunno, but I'm planning on Katara giving birth before the story ends, and there are also a few more surprises in store… Though I'm not finished with the story, I have started the epilogue. All I'm gonna say is that it takes place 15 years later, and there are quite a few new characters (as in children…) so that should be interesting!

ONE last thing: If you wanna check to see how my chapters are coming along, check my profile! I usually have what chapters I'm working on and how I'm doing with those. Just letting you all know!

Please review on the way out! Just don't comment on the long-ass author's note. I gave you a heads-up! Thanks for reading!


	13. Chapter 10

Wow! Ten reviews for one chapter? Thank you all so much! I'm sorry that I'm unable to find the time to reply to all your reviews… most of it will just be me being like 'thanks!' But really, I appreciate the reviews! The more reviews I get, the happier I am! (Unless they're flames, but you all probably knew that…)

Anyway, you're all probably mad cause I keep on chatting and you just wanna see what everyone's reaction is gonna be to Katara's pregnancy, so any notes I have will wait to the end. Lemme just put up a _long-winded_ disclaimer and you'll be all set!

* * *

**Disclaimer:** …No…

"P-pregnant," Aang's eyes widened as he stuttered, "as in… _pregnant_?"

"Yes Aang," Katara said with a smile. "I'm pregnant."

"With… with a _baby_…?" Aang was in shock. He obviously hadn't expected this.

"Nice move marrying Aang," Toph said quietly, nudging Katara in the side. "He's a _real_ smart one." Katara just shook her head with a wide smile.

"B-but how can you tell?" he asked. Sure, Aang wanted to have children, but not for at _least_ another month or two.

"Toph told me," Katara replied simply. "She was able to feel vibrations of a baby."

"The vibrations were very faint, but I could feel a tiny spark of life if I concentrated hard enough…" Toph said with a shrug.

"Come on Haru. Let's go leave the proud parents alone." Haru nodded as Toph reached blindly for his hand. "Way to go Aang!" she exclaimed as she punched him on his shoulder when she passed him.

"Um, thanks…" the Avatar said, rubbing his shoulder.

Once Aang and Katara were alone, Aang sighed as he moved over to the couch and collapsed on it.

"Aang, are you alright?" Katara asked her husband as she sat down next to him.

"Yeah, it's just that… I dunno. This is just… too sudden…" he mumbled, sitting upright on the sofa.

"But I thought you _wanted_ to have kids." The waterbender frowned as she put her hand on her flat stomach.

"No, no! I _do!_" Aang said quickly. "Just not right away, you know?"

Katara nodded as she sat next to her husband. "Well, how does nine months sound to you?" She smiled and laughed, taking Aang's hand.

"Well, we don't have much of a choice, do we?" Aang smiled as well.

"Guess not…" The waterbender said with a shrug.

The two were silent for a little while. Katara laid her head on Aang's shoulder while he stroked her hair.

"So," Katara said as she sat up, finally breaking the silence. "We have to tell everyone, don't we?"

"Uh, y-yeah," Aang said stuttering over his words. He was still a little overwhelmed that his wife of three weeks was pregnant.

* * *

"Dad," Katara called out when she got outside.

She saw her father talking to a few Northerners, pointing off in some distance as if he was giving them directions. Hearing his daughter's voice however, he turned to the two and waved them over before turning back to the men then bowing slightly as they thanked the chief and walked in the direction he was pointing to moments before.

"Hey Katara, hello Aang," Hakoda greeted them as the two stopped a few feet in front of him. "What's new?"

Katara couldn't hide the blush that crossed her face when he asked. "Well Dad, there's something we have to tell you." She said grabbing her husband's hand.

"Well, what is it?" He asked, though the look on his face suggested that he already knew judging by Katara's pink face and the way she was all over Aang at the moment.

"Well," she started with a smile. "Aang and I are gonna have a baby!"

"Katara," Hakoda smiled widely as he pulled his daughter into his arms. "Congratulations," he said softly.

"Thanks," she said as she gently pulled herself away from her father. "I wonder how Sokka will take it…" the waterbender thought aloud with a mischievous smile.

* * *

"_Mommy_, I'm hungry!" Suri whined.

Things were very hectic today, to say the least. Tayo wouldn't stop crying, Suri wouldn't stop complaining, and Sokka wouldn't stop being an idiot.

"I'm sorry honey. Mommy's very busy right now," Suki said as she held a wailing Tayo, trying everything; _anything_ to calm him down. "Go ask Daddy."

"I did!" Suri said above the infant's crying. "He said _he's_ busy."

Suki let out an exasperated sigh. "Sokka," she called out, quickly losing her patience. "Come out here and feed your daughter!"

"I'm busy!" Sokka yelled back.

"_Sokka_," Suki groaned in a 'you-better-get-out-here-_now_-before-I-kill-you' tone.

"Fine, fine," Sokka sighed as he entered the room moments later.

"What were you doing?" Suki asked her husband.

"Nothing really," Sokka shrugged, not noticing the death glare his wife gave him.

"_Daddy_, I'm hungry!" Suri started whining again.

"Well, what would you like to eat?" he asked her calmly.

"I dunno," Suri shrugged.

Suki slapped a palm to her forehead. She was _just_ like her father; Suki and everyone else were right about that after all…

"Let's just see what we have…" Sokka took Suri over to the cabinets where they kept their food.

While Suki adjusted a still screaming Tayo on her tired shoulder, Katara and Aang walked in.

"Hey Suki," Katara yelled over the screaming. "Having trouble?"

"He won't stop crying!" Suki said desperately. "I've tried _everything_! I tried feeding him, changing him, putting him down for a nap, _nothing's _working!"

"Let me see," Katara said, holding out her arms for her nephew. She began to rock Tayo back and forth, softly humming a lullaby her mother used to sing to her when she was little. Tayo's cries gradually softened, and soon, the baby was fast asleep.

"How did you do that?" Suki asked, shocked, though a little angry, that Katara was able to get Tayo calmed down so quickly.

"It's a gift I guess," Katara said as she smiled with a small shrug and handed the baby back to his mother, who walked into the nursery to put Tayo in his cradle.

"Hi Auntie 'Tara, Hi Uncle Aang," Suri said with a grin as Sokka appeared to be preparing a snack.

"Hello Suri," Katara said, kneeling down to hug her niece.

"Hey sis, what brings you here?" Sokka asked, momentarily turning away from the food as Suki came back into the room.

"Wow Katara. You're a natural at this whole 'baby' thing. Are you and Aang thinking of having any children soon?" Suki smiled at her brother and sister-in-law.

"That's actually why we came here," Katara said, looking at her husband. Aang seemed too scared to speak. Katara figured it had something to do with Sokka standing within arms lengths of the airbender. "_Relax_ Aang," Katara laughed.

Aang forced a laugh, neither of the two noticing the knowing look on Suki's face, or the confused look on Sokka and Suri's.

"Anyway, Aang and I have something to tell you guys," The waterbender said. After a moment's silence, Katara spoke up again. "Aang and I are gonna have a baby!" A shocked silence greeted these words, broken moments later by Suki.

"Congratulations you two," Suki walked forward hugging Katara. "You'll be great parents!"

Aang cautiously looked over at his brother-in-law and noticed the stunned expression on his face. "S-Sokka…?" Aang said carefully, not wanting to upset him. Sokka looked Aang right in the eye, causing the Avatar to take a few steps back.

"Sokka…" Katara said warningly, making sure that Sokka wouldn't kill Aang.

Not taking his eyes off the airbender, Sokka walked towards Aang with an unreadable look on his face. Once they were less than a foot apart, the warrior shocked everyone greatly when he pulled his brother-in-law into a warm hug. "_Congratulations._" He said quietly.

"Uh… thanks…?" Aang said unsurely, not knowing how to act. He expected to be dead by now.

"Just take care of her during this time, okay?" Sokka said, pulling himself away.

"Of course," Aang nodded and gave a small bow in thanks.

"Come on, Aang. Let's go," Katara said from behind. After mouthing a soft 'thanks' to her brother, she left.

As Aang made to follow his wife, Sokka grabbed his arm.

"If you ever do _anything_ to hurt her _or_ the baby," Sokka whispered so Suki and Suri couldn't hear, "I will _kill_ you!"

"O-okay… I-I'll keep that in mind…" Aang replied nervously.

"Aang," Katara's voice came from outside, "where are you?"

"Uh, I'm coming Katara!" Aang said as he took his arm out of Sokka's grip and ran outside to Katara, promising himself that he will do what _ever_ he can to make the next nine months for his wife as comfortable as he can.

"Well," Sokka said more to himself as he served his daughter her snack. "I think that went pretty well!"

* * *

So… what'd you think? Anyway, as always much thanks to my beta, daydream11! Without her, this story would completely suck! Chapter 11 will _hopefully_ be up within a week… Depends on how long daydream takes with the next chapter! Thanks for reading! Please review! 


	14. Chapter 11

And here is chapter 11! Much thanks to daydream11 for editing this for me, and even more thanks to my readers and reviewers! Seriously, whithout all you, I wouldn't have made it this far in the story!

_I would like to advise a quick warning before the chapter… I have read some reviews of fanfics where someone with the username ANONYMOUS5824 is putting up major spoilers for the rest of the season/series. Fortunately, I only read one or two things that will happen, which I already knew about. Luckily, I blocked him from reviewing this story as well as anonymous reviews. I haven't watched any of the episodes that haven't aired in the US yet (up to episode 3.9). I just wanted to warn those who don't want to be spoiled to watch out!_

Anyway, this is a pretty short chapter; just Katara with some cravings and mood-swings. I'm not finished with chapter 12 yet, so it's possible that it won't be up for another two weeks… Hopefully sooner though…

* * *

**Disclaimer:** -Gets a big neon sign that reads 'I don't own Avatar'- 

Over the next few weeks, Katara and Aang have had many visits from old mothers, each of them giving the couple different advice on how to care for Katara's unborn baby.

"Now Katara dear, you want to stay off your feet as much as you can," one woman from the North Pole said.

"You don't want to eat too much of that unhealthy junk you kids seem to like so much," an elderly woman said as she began looking through their cupboards.

"It's important to sleep as much as you can. Heaven knows you'll need it once the baby is born!"

"Oh, those mood swings get the best of all us women; I know you didn't really mean that," another woman said, shaking her head with a soft smile after Katara told her where she should put her advice.

"Wow Katara," Aang said after the woman left… but not before Katara gave her a few choice words. "I didn't know you _knew_ all of those words."

* * *

About a week later, when Katara was just over a month pregnant, the Northerners decided it was about time they headed back home to the North Pole. The whole city was there to wish everyone luck on the long journey back, and a few of the guests congratulated Katara and Aang once again on their marriage and the baby. 

"You're welcome back at any time," Hakoda said as he bowed to the chief of the Northern Water Tribe, and with one final "thank you" and "congratulations again, and good luck", they were off.

Later on in the afternoon, Katara and Aang were in their hut. The waterbender stood sideways by a mirror with a hand over her still flat stomach.

"Dear Yue, I'm getting so fat!"

"You're not fat, Katara." Aang said with a slightly annoyed sigh. Ever since she got pregnant, Katara has been complaining about how fat she was, even though the baby wasn't even showing yet.

"You're just saying that to be nice to me," Katara said, almost in tears.

'_Mood swing'_ Aang sighed. Only five weeks along, and already Katara was annoying Aang with her almost constant mood swings.

'_Just do what you always do and you'll survive this.'_ The airbender put his arms around his wife as she started to cry. Aang was trying hard not to roll his eyes at Katara's sensitivity. After all, it wasn't her fault she was acting like this.

"Oh Aang," Katara sobbed. "You're just so sweet to me, even when I'm acting unreasonable and angry… I don't deserve you!" She started to cry even harder. Aang just continued patting her back, waiting for her to calm down.

* * *

That night, Aang decided to cook dinner for himself and Katara, since the waterbender became very sensitive to smells, and easily got sick while she cooked. 

"What do you want for dinner, Katara?" Aang asked, not realizing his mistake.

"Hm…" Katara strolled over to the cupboards and looked through their food. "How about some stewed sea prunes?"

"Alright," even though this wasn't Aang's favorite food, he was still willing to make whatever Katara wanted. As he reached to grab the supplies, Katara stopped him.

"I changed my mind." She said. "I want some sort of meat…"

The Avatar's stomach flipped over. Even the mention of someone eating an animal was enough to make him sick, but he said nothing. "What kind of meat. Is fish okay?"

Katara shook her head and thought for a moment. "No… some other kind of meat… I kinda want… something fresh." Aang knew that 'fresh' meant 'freshly _killed_'.

"I… Katara, you know that I can't kill a living thing…" the airbender started. "It's just how I was raised…" Aang could see tears gathering in her eyes. He was so sick of these mood swings… _'Relax Aang,' _he told himself, _'just _eight_ more months to go…'_

"Well, that's what I want! I'm hungry! It's not my fault I want fresh meat! It's just that… the baby…"

"Alright, alright, I'll see what I can do…" Aang said quickly, not wanting to upset his wife any further. "What about Sokka? He's a good hunter isn't he? I can go ask him!" Aang was relieved when the tears instantly vanished, replaced by a wide smile.

"You'd really do that for me? Thanks Aang!" She kissed him on the cheek, not hearing Aang muttering darkly to himself as he left.

* * *

"Hey Sokka," Aang greeted his brother-in-law as he arrived at and entered his hut. The warrior was sitting on his couch, polishing the meteorite sword he had made himself several years ago. 

"Hey Aang, what's up?" Sokka put his sword aside and faced the airbender.

"It's Katara…" he sighed.

"Lemme guess, cravings?" Sokka smiled.

"Yeah… how'd you know?" Aang asked.

"I've gone through two pregnancies with Suki already. I know what's going on with Katara right now. It's the same with every woman."

Aang highly doubted that it was the _exact_ same for each woman, but that didn't matter right now.

"So," Sokka went on. "What does she want?"

"Fresh meat…" Aang tried hard not to gag.

"Ah. I see. Well then, let me just—" before Sokka could finish however, Katara popped her head in the door…

"Aang, I changed my mind. I _do_ want fish."

Aang was silent for a few moments, trying to resist the urge to yell at his wife to make up her mind. Finally, he took a deep breath. "I'm gonna go check on Appa and Momo… Sokka, take care of this…"

"What's his problem?" the waterbender asked, clearly unaware of the annoyance she was causing. Sokka shrugged.

* * *

Yeah. Daydream11 pointed out that most women will get sick at the smell of meat… Well, you can pretend that either Katara isn't most women, or that she _does_ get sick while Sokka's cooking and will change her mind about what she wants to eat (again). I just don't have the time or patience to write out that part, though if you all really want to, I might… -Coughs- Anyway, please review! 


	15. Chapter 12

Yes, you're not imagining things. Chapter 12 really is up! Sorry for the long wait. My beta and I have both been busy with school. Luckily, winter break starts sometime in the next few weeks, though I only have next week and one Monday after next week, then my semester is done! –parties- Anyway, first, lemme just squee about how AWESOME the Day of Black Sun episodes were, then thank my beta, daydream11, then I'll do the disclaimer and stuff. –clears throat- SQUEE!

Thank you daydream11!

* * *

**Disclaimer: **Lawyer: Say it…

Me: -sigh- I don't own Avatar…

The next month went by with pretty much the same things: Morning sickness, strange cravings, mood-swings… But somehow, miraculously, Aang was able to survive all of this with his sanity relatively intact. Soon enough, Katara was two-and-a-half months pregnant. Though the little bump in her belly wasn't too noticeable by anyone, the villagers could still tell the difference by the way Katara was carrying herself these days.

"So Suri." Katara and Aang were visiting Sokka, Suki, Suri and Tayo one day. "What would you like for your birthday?" It just so happened that Suri's fourth birthday was just a few days away.

The three-year-old thought for a moment before she gasped. "I want a spear made with a Saber-Tooth Moose Lion's tooth on it!" Sokka smiled and nodded approvingly, while Suki shook her head.

"Did your daddy tell you to say that?" Katara asked, glaring at her brother.

"Daddy told me not to tell you." Suri smiled at her aunt and uncle while Sokka slapped his palm to his face.

"_Sokka_," Suki said angrily as she hit her husband's shoulder.

* * *

In another part of the city, Toph and Haru sat in their little ice hut, still discussing their wedding.

"Toph, we've been discussing this for over a month now. _Are_ your parents invited or _what_?" Since they started their wedding plans, Toph has been going back and forth, not knowing whether or not to invite her parents.

On the one hand, it would only be fair to invite her parents to the wedding. They were her parents; they deserved to see their only daughter getting married. Though on the other hand, after running away from home again, it would create an awkward situation. Especially since the Bei Fong's didn't even know that Toph met a man, let alone got _engaged_…

"Well… I dunno. I _should_, but what will they say when they find out I'm engaged?" Toph thought aloud.

"What? You're parents don't know we're engaged?" Haru asked, shocked. "Do they even _know_ about me?"

"And how would I tell them?" Toph asked angrily.

"You could've written them a letter!" Haru argued back.

"And _how_ would I do that? You _know_ I can't read or write!" Toph waved her hand in front of her face to emphasize her blindness.

An awkward silence followed, broken by Haru a few moments later. "Right, right, I'm sorry…" Toph smiled at how much he sounded like Sokka.

* * *

On the day of Suri's fourth birthday, Aang arrived at Sokka and Suki's hut early in the afternoon.

"Uncle Aang!" Suri yelled as she jumped up, trying to throw her arms around his neck, though she ended up hugging no higher than his waist.

"Hello Suri," Aang said as he patted his niece's head.

"Hey Aang," Sokka said stepping out of the nursery with Tayo in his arms. "Where's Katara?"

Aang shook his head with a soft smile. "Well, just as we were about to leave, Katara got sick; you know, 'cause of the baby… She told me to go on ahead though. She'll be here soon."

Sokka nodded before handing his son over to Suki.

Within a few minutes, Katara arrived at the hut holding a small bag in her hand, tied with a pink ribbon.

"Auntie 'Tara!" The familiar cry echoed in the waterbender's ears as Suri hugged Katara around her waist.

"Hello Suri," Katara laughed, kneeling down to her niece, "Happy birthday."

"Is that for me?" Suri asked, pointing to the bag in her aunt's hand.

"_Suri_," Suki said sharply, "that's not very polite."

"I'm sorry, Mommy." The four-year-old said, turning towards her mother. She then turned back to Katara. "Is that for me… please?"

Katara, Aang and Sokka couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes it is," Katara stated matter-of-factly, handing the bag to the little girl.

Suri ripped the ribbon off the top, letting it fall to the floor. The little girl smiled as she stuck her hand in the bag and felt something solid. Pulling her hand out of the bag to examine the gift, she let out a small gasp.

"How pretty," Suri said as she pulled out a silver locket. The necklace had a silver chain with a heart shaped pendant hanging from it.

"Wow," Suki said getting up to get a closer look at her daughter's gift. "That's really nice. Where'd you get it?"

"Aang made it," Katara said, glancing over at her husband.

"It's complicated…" Aang said when Suki looked like she was about to ask how he made it. She just nodded as Suri put the locket on over her head.

"Do I look pretty?" she asked.

"Gorgeous," Katara answered with a smile. "But look!" She took hold of the heart and opened it up, revealing Suri's name engraved in the metal. "This has your name in it."

Suri took the heart from her aunt and stared at the engraving, as if she were able to read what it said. She smiled before hugging Katara once more.

"Now what do you say, Suri?" Suki said, staring down at her daughter as she adjusted Tayo in her arms.

"Say about what?" she asked. Suki tried hard to resist the urge to slap a palm to her forehead.

"What do you say when someone gives you something?" she said, trying not to lose her patience. After all, it wasn't Suri's fault that she was like her father…

Suri thought for a moment. "Oh! Thank you Auntie 'Tara and Uncle Aang!" she replied with a big smile.

"You're very welcome, Suri," Katara said sweetly.

"Can we have the cake now, Mommy?" Suri asked.

"Alright…" she said, handing Tayo to Sokka, who was eyeing the cake hungrily.

* * *

One hour and four slices of cake later, Katara decided that she needed to go lay down, so she and Aang decided to head back home.

"Bye guys," Katara and Aang said.

"Bye Aang," Sokka said. "Bye fatty!" He teased.

Katara turned around to face her brother, looking pretty angry. She lifted her arms to use the snow and ice from outside to freeze him, and then bury him six feet under the ground, but Aang put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. With a sigh and one last evil glare, Katara followed Aang back home.

* * *

Later that day, Aang was surprised to see that Toph and Haru have come by.

"I invited them for dinner, if that's okay." Katara said to Aang as she walked back into the room and noticed their guests.

"Alright, that's fine." The airbender said with his back turned from the cooking pot which hung over a small fire.

"Toph," Katara said, heading over to the blind girl, "do you think you can, um… help me with…?" She glanced over at Aang, who in turn gave her a suspicious look.

Toph looked confused for a moment, and then seemed to understand. "Oh, yeah, right. Sure." With that, Katara grabbed Toph's hand and led her into the bedroom.

Aang looked at Haru, who shrugged. The two men stood there in silence for a few moments before Haru finally spoke. "So… how are… things…?"

Aang sighed and turned back to attend to the soup he was preparing.

It wasn't but a few minutes when Toph and Katara walked out of the bedroom. Toph carefully walked back over to Haru while Katara looked like she did when she found out she was pregnant. What's up with her _now_?

"What was that all about?" Aang asked as his wife approached him, looking over his cooking.

Katara started to say something, but before she could get any words out, the mixed smells of the soup and smoke overcame her, and the all-too-familiar nausea feeling returned.

"E-excuse me…" Katara said quietly before dashing off to the bathroom.

* * *

-Cue the long author's note from hell-

I know the ending's a little abrupt, but after working on this for a week, I didn't know how to end it….

Anyway, this was just a filler chapter… And if you wanna know what Katara and Toph were doing, you'll have to wait a while. Was Toph telling Katara the gender? (You can tell after about 11-12 weeks), or was she telling Katara whether she was gonna have an air or waterbender? Is Katara having an affair with Toph? Are you all gonna kill me if I keep on asking rhetorical questions? Sorry.

Um, the end of the next chapter is where things start to pick up, just so you know. And I also have many other things planned before Katara gives birth. So chapter 13's done, so I'm gonna send it to my beta, and as always, no idea when it'll be up! So in the mean time, please review! And I just wanna thank everyone who did review. Without you, there wouldn't be much of a point in continuing. Thanks much! –blows kisses-


	16. Chapter 13

Wow! Chapter thirteen already! (Sixteen if you count the intro and prologues…) I'd like to thank all of my reviewers who have made this possible. –Sniffles- And… I'd also like to thank my mother, my dad, my sister, not my brother 'cause he's an idiot… but I'd like to also thank my cats, my guinea pig, my hamster, my fish, my— Hm? Oh… Sorry about that. I got a bit carried away. XD

Anyway, this chapter is pretty much just a filler. Setting up for the next few chapters... Just know that I have skipped a few months between last chapter and this one. Not too many interesting things have been happening since last chapter… just the usual. But I will warn you that this chapter ends in a cliffhanger. So, I'll talk to you about everything else in my long Author's Notes from hell! But, lemme just first thank my wonderful beta daydream11 for looking over this… Oh wait… I just did… Okay then!

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I asked Santa if I could own Avatar… He said no. –Cries- 

Time went by uneventfully as Katara entered her fifth month in her pregnancy. It was now apparent that the waterbender was expecting, much to her dismay. Though she knew she would be gaining weight during her pregnancy, she didn't expect to gain in places _other_ than her belly, and she began to feel self-conscious about her looks. Also, Katara was in pain from her constant back and headaches, so she didn't leave her ice hut too much for too long. Unfortunately for her waterbending students, lessons for the younger children were temporarily held with Master Pakku, who, after much practice, was able to hide his impatience with some of the less advanced benders.

It was early one afternoon and Katara was eating… again… and Aang was outside brushing Appa's coat.

"I know, I know. You haven't been flying much since Katara and I went to the Southern Air Temple, but we don't really have anywhere we need to go anymore that's not within walking distance. Hm… Maybe we can go for a ride later. Suri can come too if she wants." Aang said as he sat on the beast's head, brushing the hair that fell into his eyes.

Appa gave a low grunt, letting Aang know that he heard what he had said.

"Yeah, it's been a while since I got to spend this much time with you. It's just… Katara's my wife… and she's pregnant with my child. You know how much I've wanted this, right boy?"

Again, Appa just groaned.

"I knew you'd understand."

"Aang," an excited yell came from back inside. "Aang, come in here!"

Aang sighed as he finished brushing Appa's head. "I'll be back later." He said to his life-long friend.

"Katara, what is it?" Aang asked as he ran into the hut to see his wife sitting on the couch with a hand on her stomach, smiling.

"It's kicking. The baby's kicking!"

Aang smiled as he rushed over and put a hand on Katara's belly. Sure enough, he felt a lot of movement from inside the womb, like the little life was tumbling around in its own little world.

"Wow," he said. "It's really moving around a lot! Doesn't that hurt you?" he wondered.

The waterbender shook her head. "Nah, it just feels weird." She laughed as she rubbed her stomach.

* * *

"Is Auntie 'Tara's baby here yet?" Suri asked. Ever since the baby started to show, the four-year-old was constantly asking if her little cousin has been born yet. 

"Suri, I've told you," Suki said as she fed Tayo in the nursery. "She's not gonna have the baby for a while."

"When is it coming?" she asked.

"About four months," Suki sighed.

"How long is that?" Suki really was tired of all her daughter's questions.

"Very long, Suri…"

"Oh." Suri waited a few moments before speaking. "Is it four months yet?"

"No, Suri. It's not four months yet." Suki told her daughter with a small laugh. "That was more like four _seconds_."

"How much longer is four months?" the child asked impatiently.

Suki was starting to get annoyed. "Suri, why don't you go find Daddy? I'm sure he'll be able to answer all your questions."

"Okay!" Suri said happily as she skipped away to find her father.

* * *

That night, after the sun went down, Aang was back outside with Appa and Momo. Katara had already gone to bed, saying how tired she was. He had finished Appa's brushing from earlier and was now sitting on the bison's paw, with the lemur sitting in Aang's lap as he stroked him. 

"So what do you guys think?" the Avatar asked the two animals. "Aang Junior if the baby's a boy?" Even though the baby wasn't due for another four months, Aang and Katara still debated over baby names.

Appa gave a soft growl of distaste while Momo chattered.

"How 'bout we name it after one of you?" Aang joked, knowing that Katara would think calling their child 'Appa' or 'Momo' was borderline child abuse.

After a few more minutes of coming up with any names he and Katara would like, Aang decided, judging by the position of the moon, that it was getting pretty late. After bidding the bison goodnight, he and Momo went into the hut and got ready for bed.

* * *

It was late in the morning when Aang woke up the next day. He was a little surprised; usually, he didn't sleep this late. Throwing back the blankets, the Avatar stretched while he yawned. Looking over to his right, he noticed Momo, curled up in a little ball near a still-sleeping Katara's head. He smiled at the sight before waking his wife. 

"Katara," he whispered, gently shaking her. "Come on. We have to get up."

Katara mumbled something incoherently, but otherwise didn't wake.

"Come on, Katara. I know you think you're fat, but you're not! It's the baby." He got off of the bed and went over to Katara's side. "Come on, wake up."

Katara mumbled something Aang was, again, unable to make out.

"What was that?" He asked.

Finally, the waterbender pulled the covers off of her face. She looked oddly pale, and she was sweating and shivering quite a bit, too. "I said," she replied with a weak cough. "I'm not feeling too good…"

Aang frowned as he felt her forehead; she was burning up! This couldn't be good for her or the baby. They needed help!

* * *

-Shot- Yeah. I love cliffhangers… (As long as they're mine. XD). Anyway, I have chapter 14 finished, but, as always, I have no idea when it'll be up. I'd like to get it up before Christmas though. But I will say that it ends in another cliffhanger. –Shot again- I'm hoping that the wait in between chapters won't be so long over the holidays, since my beta and I are off school. 

Anyway, keep up all the nice reviews! Remember: Constructive criticism: Okay; Flames: Not okay. Thanks!


	17. Chapter 14

Yay! My beta got this back to me fairly quickly! I wasn't expecting this for at least another few days, but still! I actually got it December 17th, but I didn't feel like posting it till just today (the 18th! Anyway, thanks much for all your reviews! Also, I'm sorry to say that this chapter ends in a cliffhanger, and I'm not done with chapter 15 yet, so I have no clue when that'll be up, anyway, thanks daydream11 for editing this!

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Avatar, then they'd premiere the new episodes in at least the same week in English-speaking countries! I mean, seriously; come on! This is getting ridiculous! –Shot- Sorry… Love to rant!

* * *

Trying not to panic, the airbender thought about what he should do. Should he go ask for a doctor? Should he stay with his sick wife? Should he go get Sokka or Hakoda? Many thoughts floated through Aang's head as he rubbed a cool cloth on Katara's forehead, hoping to bring the fever down. Aang had hoped that _someone_ would come over for one reason or another so he wouldn't have to leave Katara's side.

"Aang," she said weakly, gripping onto the Avatar's forearm to get his attention.

"Katara," Aang whispered to her. "What is it?"

"The baby…" Katara put her hand on her large belly.

Aang suddenly felt his heart drop. "Is something wrong with the baby?"

"I don't want my baby to die." She started to cry weakly into her pillow. "Help us!"

"Don't worry Katara. I-I'll get help." Aang was about to get up when he felt a warm and sweaty hand grab his wrist.

"Don't go!" Katara cried weakly. "Don't leave me."

"I… I don't want to leave you, but… I need to get help," Aang said sadly. He didn't know what he was going to do. Chances were that if he didn't get the help Katara needed, she would get worse and could cause damage to her or the baby; or worse…

"Katara, I swear. I'll be back in a minute, less than that, even. I'll go next door, grab Sokka and bring him over, is that alright with you?"

Katara stared at him through glossy eyes and nodded slowly.

"I'll be right back," he said as he kissed her burning forehead. He walked from the room as quickly and quietly he could before bursting into a run through the main room and out the door, taking a sharp right-hand turn into Sokka's hut. Sokka was sitting at the table with Suki and Suri, about to have breakfast.

"Aang, I didn't expect to see you here. Want some—_whoa_!" Sokka yelled as Aang grabbed his arm and dragged him outside. Suri gave her mother a curious look as to what that was about. Suki just shrugged.

"Aang, what's—?" Sokka yelled angrily as they arrived back at Aang and Katara's place.

"Shh! Sokka," Aang said to quiet him down. "Katara is very sick. She needs help." Sokka's expression softened immediately.

"Is she okay?" he asked. "What about the baby?"

"I-I don't know…" the Avatar sighed. "I don't know anything for sure."

Sokka just nodded sorrowfully as Aang motioned him to follow him back into the room.

"Aang," Katara said weakly, hearing someone enter the room.

"I'm here Katara," the airbender said, running up to the bed and taking one of her hands into his own. "Sokka's here too." He pointed to the warrior who stood at the foot of her bed.

Katara looked up at her brother, squinting her eyes just a bit to keep his image in focus. He was standing completely still, staring down at his sister with a worried look on his face.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he moved towards her, leaning over behind Aang.

"I'll be fine," she said with a cough. Both Aang and Sokka knew she was only saying that so they wouldn't worry.

"Aang," Sokka said quietly to the airbender, "why don't you go and find someone? I'll stay with Katara."

Aang hesitated. He really didn't want to leave Katara, even though he was sure Sokka wouldn't do anything to hurt her. _'He's her brother.'_ he reminded himself. _'It'll be _fine_. Just _go_ you idiot!'_

"Right," Aang said, shaking himself out of his thoughts. He then leaned over to his wife. "I'll be right back Katara. Hold on." With a quick peck on the cheek, Aang stood upright and ran out the door.

* * *

In the healing hut, a boy of about six sat on a chair, explaining to one of the waterbending healers about how he broke his wrist, while a second healer tended to his fracture. Suddenly, without any warning, a gust of wind flew through the small hut, causing the healers and the little boy to scream. Once everything settled, the three looked up to see a harassed looking Avatar, slumped over, trying to catch his breath.

Once the shock of what had happened had worn off, one of the healers went back to healing the young boy, while the other made her way over to Aang.

"Is there a problem?" she questioned in a professional manner, despite the fact that her hands still shook slightly.

"I-it's my wife!" Aang gasped, still partially out of breath. "Katara… she-she's really sick, I-I don't know what to do. I have her brother in there with her, he said that I should go get help, and… and…" The healer cut him off.

"Here," she said as she led him over to a nearby chair and helped him sit down. "Calm down, then tell me more about what's going on."

Aang took a deep breath before speaking this time. "Okay," he said as he calmed down a bit. "My wife, Katara, she's five months pregnant." The healer nodded. _Everyone_ in the city knew that Katara was carrying the Avatar's baby. "Well, when I went to wake her up this morning, she said she wasn't feeling well. I checked for a fever, and she was burning up. She's really worried… well, I am too, about the baby. I know you probably can't heal her, but can you please come and check her out?"

"Of course," the healer said. "Lead the way."

* * *

Within a couple minutes, Aang and the healer, who introduced herself as Kaye, made their way into the small hut and into the bedroom. Sokka, who was pressing a cool cloth to his sister's forehead, looked up when he heard the footsteps and Aang's heavy breathing.

"We got here as fast as we could." Aang said quietly, trying not to wake Katara, who appeared to be in a light sleep.

"This is Kaye," Aang gestured to the healer, "she said she'd take a look at her."

Kaye nodded and made her way over to the waterbender. "Excuse me," she murmured politely to Sokka as she went to kneel down next to Katara.

Sokka went over to the foot of the bed, right next to Aang, as Kaye checked Katara's temperature. She frowned when she noticed how hot she was, and took out a vial of water from inside her heavy coat.

"How long has she been like this?" Kaye asked, turning her head towards the two men. Sokka shrugged and looked over at Aang.

"Uh, well, this morning I guess… she didn't seem sick yesterday..." He shrugged. Kaye nodded her understanding while she took the vial and uncorked it with a tiny '_pop!_' She then bended the water onto her hands, as Katara had done so many times before, and placed them onto the waterbender's belly, no doubt, making sure that the baby was still alive.

When she felt the cold hands on her stomach, Katara's eyes opened wide in shock, as though not expecting to feel cold hands on her abdomen. She tried to sit up, but was immediately, but gently, pushed back down my Kaye.

"K-Kaye…?" Katara recognized the healer from the healing hut she would sometimes helped out at a few years previously.

Kaye nodded. "Just relax, Katara," she whispered as she closed her eyes, concentrating on the small life inside the young woman.

"Hm…" the healer said after a few minutes, turning towards Aang and Sokka. "Aang, Sokka, would you guys mind stepping out for a few moments so I can examine Katara more thoroughly?" The two nodded.

While Sokka immediately left the room, Aang said quietly, "I'll be just out there, Katara. Don't worry." Katara smiled and nodded, but regretted it immediately, as her head started to throb once again. With a small, though encouraging smile, Aang followed Sokka out of the room, closing the flap that separated the bedroom and the main room.

* * *

"Relax Aang, everything's gonna be alright," Sokka said after a couple minutes, during which Aang started pacing back and forth by the bedroom.

"You don't know that," Aang said, surprising even himself when he noticed how calm his voice was. "Why didn't Kaye tell us that everything was okay then? What if Katara or the baby doesn't make it? I'd _never_ get over that." He stopped pacing and hung his head.

Sokka didn't know what to say to make Aang feel better. "Why don't we just sit down? We won't make things any better if we keep on stressing about this."

"I guess you're right," Aang sighed as he and Sokka sat on the couch, waiting for Kaye to come out, hopefully with the news that both Katara and the baby were just fine.

* * *

It was a good twenty minutes before the unmistakable sounds of footsteps heading towards the two men, who both jumped up with a look of anticipation on each face. Sure enough, Kaye entered the room a few moments later.

"How's she doing?"

"Are she and the baby gonna be okay?"

The two spoke up at once and were silenced when the healer raised her hand slightly, signaling them to stop.

"I just finished examining Katara," she replied with an unreadable expression on her face. Aang thought he detected a little bit of graveness in her tone, which he knew couldn't mean anything good. "She has a very high fever, chills, headache, nausea- normal symptoms of the flu." Kaye paused.

"So…" Aang said, "are Katara and the baby gonna be okay?" he asked worriedly, wanting for Kaye to just come out and say it instead of beating around the bush. Kaye looked up at him gravely before speaking.

* * *

-Shot- Yeah, yeah, bad cliffhanger I know. Now, like I said before, I have NO idea when chapter 15 will be up, but it would most likely be after Christmas… -Shot again- The only way it will be up by/before then is if I finish it sometime in the next few days (which is possible) and I send it to my beta and she gets it back to me within a few days (again, possible), but I'm not sure… Anyway, please review! Thanks! And just in case I don't get another chapter up for a while, Happy Holidays! 


	18. Chapter 15

After reading your reviews for chapter 14, I decided to get my butt in gear and get chapter 15 finished before you all kill me. Unfortunately, this chapter also ends in a cliffhanger. –Shot- I'll talk more after the chapter cause I know you're all about ready to kill me cause you wanna hear whether or not the baby's gonna be alright. There will be a quick recap first though:

**Disclaimer:** Me (sitting in Santa's lap): I want a puppy, a kitten, my own apartment, money, Avatar, more money—

Santa: Sorry. Mike and Bryan own Avatar. You can't.

Me: -Sobs-

* * *

"_So…" Aang said, "are she and the baby gonna be okay?" he asked, wanting for Kaye to just come out and say it instead of beating around the bush. Kaye looked up at him gravely before speaking.

* * *

_

Though it was only a few seconds before Kaye spoke, Aang and Sokka could swear they stood there for hours awaiting the news.

"I think so," the healer finally said with a small smile.

While Sokka gave a sigh of relief, Aang still continued to look confused. "You _think_?" he asked. "What do you mean you _think_ she and the baby are gonna be alright? Is there still a chance that they may not make it?"

Kaye sighed. "With things like this, it's hard to tell. The chances that Katara will make a full recovery are nearly one-hundred percent, as well as the baby's, but there's always the possibility that something can go wrong in the next few days, weeks, or even months." Seeing the look on Aang's face, Kaye added, "I know that some of that was probably not what you wanted to hear, but I'm just telling you like it is."

"I understand," Aang said, managing a half-hearted smile. "But still, there's a good chance that they'll be okay, right?" The Avatar looked at Kaye hopefully.

"There's an excellent chance," Kaye smiled. "Throughout these past five months, Katara has been taking care of herself quite well, not to mention all the help you've been giving her. That has greatly increased the chances of a full recovery." Aang sighed in relief.

"Thank you so much, Kaye," he said with a small bow.

"That's no problem." The healer smiled as she bowed back. "If you would like, I can come back to check on her later tonight or tomorrow."

"That would be great. Thanks again." Aang smiled.

Kaye bowed to Aang and Sokka once more before leaving the hut after saying that she would be back in a few hours.

* * *

"Is Auntie 'Tara and my cousin okay?" Suri asked her father about twenty minutes later.

After checking on Katara one last time, he had gone home and told Suki what had happened, trying to keep things quiet as to not worry Suri. Unfortunately for them (this time around), Suri was smart and she knew that something was wrong when she saw the worried look on Sokka's face when he returned from her aunt and uncle's house and asked what had happened.

"Yes. The healer is sure that Katara and the baby are gonna be fine," Sokka said reassuringly to his daughter, who smiled then announced that she was going to go play in her room now.

* * *

The next morning, after eating breakfast, Suki decided to take Suri and Tayo out for the day.

"Can you get grandpa to let me play with his knife?" Suri asked her mother, who had just finished bundling up Suri and was now working on getting Tayo's snowsuit on.

"_No_ Suri, we've talked about this before. You are not to touch grandpa's knife." Suri pouted and looked at Sokka with a pleading look.

"You heard your mother," he said simply, to which the four-year-old replied with a quiet "Aw _man!_"

Suki then gave her husband a look that clearly said, _"I _told_ you it was a bad idea to show her the knife."_ Sokka gave his wife an apologetic look.

"Alright Tayo, all done." She smiled at her six-month-old son as she picked him up from the floor. "Come on, Suri." The little girl grabbed on to her mother's outstretched hand.

"Bye Daddy!" Suri called out over her shoulder on the way out.

Tayo gurgled loudly, possibly trying to tell his father goodbye, like his sister did.

"Bye guys!" He waved back to his children.

Once the three had left the hut, Sokka decided to see how Katara was doing. As he entered his sister and brother-in-law's hut, he saw Kaye talking with Aang just outside the bedroom.

"What's new?" he asked as he stepped into the hut after knocking lightly.

"Well, I was just telling Aang that unless her fever breaks soon, it can do harm to the baby," Kaye said with a frown.

"But… didn't you say… when you were here yesterday morning… that Katara and the baby were gonna be alright?" He looked back up at the healer.

"Yes, but I also said that there was a possibility that something could go wrong." Kaye nodded. "Women have to be very careful when they're pregnant. If they eat too much of the wrong food, catch even the most common illnesses, it can have a major impact on her child. It's near impossible to make a one-hundred percent correct assumption during these types of situations, since there's no way of knowing what's going on in the womb."

"And what does that mean in normal-people language?" a completely confused Sokka asked.

"It means she has no idea," a voice from the doorway said. Sokka, Aang and Kaye turned to the door to see Toph and Haru.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sokka asked, not meaning the implied rudeness.

"Great to see you too, Sokka," Toph rolled her pale green eyes at her friend as Haru guided her into the hut.

"Word travels fast," Haru said simply. "Last night, we heard some of the healers talking about Katara being sick." He glanced curiously at Kaye who nodded, confirming what Haru had said.

"And from what we hear, things aren't going so well." Toph asked with an unusual amount of sympathy in her voice.

"Unless Katara's fever breaks soon, something can happen to the baby." Sokka repeated what Kaye had just said, as if he had understood what was happening all along.

"I see…" Haru nodded while Toph stayed quiet.

An awkward silence followed for at least a minute, before Kaye spoke. "I'm going to go back into the bedroom to check on a few things once more before I leave." She rummaged through the pockets in her coat for a few moments and took out another vial of water, only to find that it was empty. "Oh shoot!" The healer turned to Haru. "May I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure," Haru replied.

"In my healing hut, there is a large basin of water by the entrance," she said as she handed the vial to Haru. "Could you please fill that up for me?"

"Oh, alright," Haru said, storing the vial in one of his pockets. "Wait, um… where is the healing hut?"

"Come on," Aang said, motioning to Haru, "I'll show you."

There was silence once more when Haru and Aang left. Kaye muttered something about going to see if Katara's awake, leaving Toph and Sokka alone in the main room.

"Sokka," Toph said quietly to him. "Can we talk somewhere private?"

"Are you alright?" Sokka asked as he led Toph into his hut and released hold on her arm.

"Yeah," she said, waving her arms in front of her as if searching for something. "Where's the couch so we can sit down?"

"Oh here," Sokka said, grabbing his friend's hand. "Right over here." He then led Toph over to the couch and sat down next to her.

"Thanks," Toph said, naturally looking a few feet to Sokka's left.

"So," Sokka said after a few quiet moments, "what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Oh right," the Blind Bandit said, as if she forgot that there was something she wanted to say to him.

"Well, I know you're married, and I'm engaged, but… there's just something that has been nagging at me for the longest time… I knew I'd have to tell you before I got married, otherwise, I wouldn't be able to marry him with this on my conscience."

Sokka had no idea where Toph was going with this, so he let her continue…

"Well, I never told anyone this," Toph began quietly, "but back when we were traveling together… I kinda had a little… crush on you…" She turned away to hide the blush that appeared on her face; something Sokka didn't miss. After a few moments, when Sokka didn't say anything, she went on.

"I didn't want to say anything because… I knew that it was Suki you loved. Even when she was captured by Azula all those years ago… you still loved her. I knew you did, even though you never talked about it." Toph was still trying her hardest to avoid Sokka's eyes, though she wasn't exactly sure where to look. _'Damn ice…'_

Sokka was quiet throughout Toph's confession, deep in thought. After all these years he never _once_ suspected that his relationship with the earthbender could ever be anything more than good friends, yet here she was, spilling her heart out to him. He didn't know what to say. What _do_ you say when you're happily married and your friend just out of the blue says she liked—and possibly still does like you?

"Sokka," Toph said quietly when Sokka still kept quiet. "Are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," he said just above a whisper. "I-I never knew… It's just… What about Haru? And I'm happy with Suki. You understand, right?"

"I do," she said quietly, "this is just something I had to get off my chest… And about Haru, I _do_ love him and I know you're happy with Suki." This time, Toph turned her head away from Sokka's voice to hide the tears in her eyes. "I'm just so confused… I think I may still have feelings for you!"

Sokka opened his mouth to say something, but closed it after no words came out. After Toph's confession, he had a hunch that her feelings still remained, but to hear her actually say these words… that just made it seem… even truer.

"Sokka…?" Toph said again, wiping her eyes and turning back towards her friend. "Sokka, please say something."

"I dunno what to say…" he said in a whisper. He didn't know why, but Sokka noticed that his eyes seemed to be glued to Toph's unseeing ones. But what neither Toph nor Sokka noticed, was that the two were unconsciously moving closer and closer to each other, eyes closing ever so slowly…

* * *

"Did you have fun at grandpa's house, Suri?" Suki asked her daughter as they made their way back to their place, along with little Tayo, fast asleep in his mother's arms.

"Uh-huh!" Suri said with a nod. "But I still don't get that joke Uncle Bato told me…"

"I'll explain it to you when you're older…" Suki told her daughter.

"Hey Suki, hi Suri," the two heard who they knew was Aang's voice. They turned to see him and Haru not too far behind them.

"Hi guys," Suki said as she adjusted the still-sleeping infant in her arms, "what's that for?" She pointed to the vial of water in Haru's hand.

"Oh, Kaye, the healer that's helping out with Katara, she needed us to go fill this up." Haru said, indicating the vial by lifting it up a little. Suki nodded.

"Is Auntie 'Tara better yet?" Suri asked, taking her hand out of her mother's and staring at the two men.

"Uh, not yet," Aang said. He didn't want to tell Suri that she was worse. He wasn't going to tell her anything until he knew for sure whether or not she and the baby will be alright.

Luckily, Suri asked no more questions.

"Is Sokka there too?" Suki questioned.

"He was when we left," Aang said. "I dunno if he's still there, though I don't see why he would go back home." The airbender shrugged.

"Alright," Suki said as she grabbed Suri's hand. "Well, I'll let you get that water to the healer. I'm going to go put Tayo down." She nodded down to her son, who didn't seem to be bothered during the conversation. "If you need me for anything, let me know."

"Okay. Thanks Suki." Aang and Haru waved.

"Bye Uncle Aang! Bye Uncle Haru!" Suri called out over her shoulder as Suki led her to the entrance of their home.

* * *

Oooo! What's gonna happen when Suki and Suri walk into their home? Will they see Sokka and Toph kissing? See them about to kiss? Or are either Sokka or Toph gonna stop before they make any mistakes?

Oh, and about that joke Bato told Suri, I have _no_ idea, so don't ask! I just put it in there for the humor!

I dunno when chapter 16 will be up, but I doubt it'll be before Christmas… Probably not New Year's either… No clue. But if you wanna see my progress for this story, you can check out my profile. It's updated whenever I start, finish, edit, or having my beta look over a chapter.

Anyway, please review! Even though it doesn't seem like I do, I really do read them! Merry Christmas!


	19. Chapter 16

**Edit: January 30th, 2010**

Thanks to everyone for your reviews. I think I said this already, but even though I don't answer every single review, I swear I do read them! Anyway, I am sooo sorry that this is late. I know you all have been waiting, and the suspense has been killing you. I _do_ have an explanation though, but it's at the end of this chapter so you can read this before I talk about my life, so here ya go! (And no; this doesn't end in a cliffhanger, so put your weapons away). Oh! First, lemme just thank daydream11 for looking over this! Oh, I just did! Nevermind then! –Shot-

**Disclaimer:** Since Christmas, I now own a video camera, a GPS, and a whole buncha other things, but I still don't own Avatar…

* * *

Neither Toph nor Sokka noticed that they were unconsciously moving closer and closer to each other, eyes closing ever so slowly, unaware that if they go through with this, everything will fall apart…

"Toph," Sokka said quickly, realizing what was happening. "No, we— we _can't_ do this. I'm married, you're engaged… this won't work."

Toph turned her sightless pale-green eyes to the floor. "I'm sorry Sokka… I-I don't know what came over me. I wasn't thinking."

"It's okay," he said. "You— _we_, I mean, just got caught up in the moment, I guess."

Toph sniffled as she nodded her head, trying hard to keep the tears from falling. Sure, she knew that they could never be together, nor did she expect him to feel the same way. Sokka felt guilty now, even though he knew it wasn't his fault. "Toph, no, please don't cry." He then embraced his friend in a warm, friendly hug. They only broke apart when they heard a voice coming from the doorway.

"Um… what's going on?" Suki asked as she and Suri entered the hut, Tayo still fast asleep in one of her arms.

"Oh, hey guys." Sokka said in what he hoped was a casual tone. "How was your day?"

"It was fun!" Suri said with one of her big smiles before she ran off to her room to play.

"I'm gonna put Tayo down," Suki said, heading toward the nursery. "I'll be right back."

Toph and Sokka sat in an awkward silence, relieved when Suki walked back in to the room after a minute. She didn't look angry; she looked more curious, and maybe a little worried. Sokka thought that there was a chance that she didn't know what really happened.

"So, what's up?" she asked, taking note of the fact that Toph looked so upset about something.

"Oh, Toph was just having some issues she needed to work out before marrying Haru." Sokka didn't need to feel guilty about lying to Suki because, after all, that _was_ true.

"Oh," Suki turned to Toph. "Is everything alright?"

Toph just nodded before turning to Sokka. "Thanks for listening Sokka…" she said quietly as she stood up and felt her way to the entrance.

"Do you need any help?" Suki called out.

"No, no. I'm good," Toph told her once she made it to the door and walked out.

One the earthbender was out of earshot, Suki turned to Sokka, who stood with his face towards where Toph disappeared. "What did you _do_ to her?" the female warrior asked her husband.

* * *

Back in Aang and Katara's hut, Aang and Haru stood in the main room chatting away about Haru and Toph's wedding, while Kaye was checking up on Katara. When the two men got back, they were surprised to see that Toph and Sokka had left. Neither of the two was worried though. It wasn't like they were going to do anything _wrong_. After a few minutes, the two heard something from outside.

"Ow! Stupid ice…"

"That sounded like Toph," Aang mumbled as he stood up from the couch.

"Let me go check…" Haru got up as well and headed towards the door.

"Hey Toph," he said after he saw his fiancée feeling her way to him.

"Haru, is that you? This damn ice… How is it that we've been here for over six months?" The blind girl kept on muttering about how much she hates ice. Haru kept on hearing words like "Damn ice!" and "…not able to see for six months," a few times. Haru chuckled as he led the earthbender back into the hut.

"Hey, are you okay?" Haru asked upon seeing Toph's slightly red eyes.

"What? Oh… oh yeah. I'm alright," she said, forcing a smile. Even though she couldn't see it, Toph knew that both men were staring at her with disbelieving looks on their faces. She was glad that they didn't question her further.

After another minute of an awkward silence, the flap separating the bedroom to the main room opened, and Kaye stepped out.

"How is she?" Aang asked at once.

"Nothing has changed," Kaye said sadly. "I'll come back later tonight though."

"Thank you, Kay." The airbender bowed to the healer, who bowed in return before walking out of the hut.

"I'm gonna go check on Katara," Aang said as he turned towards his friends. "If you guys want to stay, feel free. I'll just be in the other room."

"No, it's okay," Haru replied, taking Toph's arm. "We're leaving. Come on, Toph."

"Bye," Aang said, waving to the couple.

"See you later," Toph and Haru said.

Once they left, Aang turned towards the bedroom and opened up the flap. In the room, he saw Katara lying on her side, slowly running her hands over her belly.

"Hey Katara," Aang said as he walked over to his wife.

"Hi Aang," the waterbender said weakly, staring up at him with those big blue eyes Aang loved so much.

"Are you feeling okay?" The Avatar knelt down by the side of the bed, right next to Katara.

"I'll be feeling better once this is over," Katara answered as she started coughing.

"Here," Aang said, turning around to grab a cup of water and handing it to Katara, "drink this."

"Thanks," she said, taking the cup and slowly sipping it. When she was finished, Aang took it from her and set it on a small table beside the bed. Katara yawned as her eyes started to close.

"Get some rest." Aang whispered as he stroked her hair and kissed her cheek. "If you need anything, I'll be in the other room."

"Thank you Aang." Katara said quietly before falling asleep. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Aang stood up and left.

* * *

That night, Aang sat on the couch in the main room, gently stroking Momo, who had curled up in Aang's lap. He soon heard a soft knock, soon followed by Kaye, stepping inside.

"Hello Kaye," Aang greeted as he gently placed the lemur on the couch as he stood up to greet the healer.

"Hi Aang," she said. "I'm just going to go see how Katara's doing." She nodded towards the door on the other side of the room.

"Alright," Aang said with a smile. "I can't thank you enough for taking such good care of her."

"Oh, that's no problem at all. It _is_ my job, after all." She smiled back at Aang before disappearing into the other room.

It was only a few minutes when Kaye came back out. This worried Aang a little bit since Kaye never took less than ten minutes.

'_This is either really good news, or really bad news.'_ Aang thought to himself as the healer approached him. "Is there something wrong?" he asked, almost afraid of the answer.

Kaye smiled as she shook her head. "Katara's fever has broken, and it appears as if the baby will be fine."

Aang had to blink back tears. This was _wonderful_! They were going to be okay! "A-are you _sure_ they'll be alright?" He _had_ to ask. Aang didn't know what he would do if he was assured that everything would be okay, only for something bad to happen.

"I'm almost positive, though nothing's ever one hundred percent _definite_ with these kind of things." she said.

Aang nodded.

"So, unless you need me for anything else…" she said, moving towards the door.

"No, no," Aang said, shaking his head. "You can go."

"Would you still like me to come back in the morning to check up on her again?"

"Yes, please." Aang smiled and bowed to the healer he had come to rely on during these past few days.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow." Kaye said as she left Aang standing alone in the main room.

The Avatar smiled. Everything was going to be all right. He turned around and walked into the bedroom, glad to see Katara sitting up in bed. Once she saw her husband, she broke into a wide smile.

"Everything's going to be okay!" she said with a small laugh as Aang hugged her. "Kaye said I should be able to get up and around within a few days."

"That's wonderful!" Aang said as he pecked her on the lips. "Then, in a few months, we can finally be a family." He hugged her even tighter.

"And I'll have everything I've always wanted," Katara said, more to herself than anyone else.

* * *

Yeah, this is kinda sappy… but it's better than those cliffhangers, right? Anyway, yes, Katara and the baby are gonna be alright and stuff like that. She's gonna give birth sometime maybe in chapter 19 or 20, just so you know… Anyway, if you wanna know why this took forever to come out, read below. If not, please review! As always, check my profile to see how the next chapter is coming along! (No clue when it'll be out though).

Alright, here's why this chapter took forever to come out: Well, there were a few contributing factors to this. First, the Holidays, as I'm sure you understand. That was very busy…

Another thing is that I am under a lot of stress for personal reasons; one of them being that one of my friends finally lost her 19-year battle with Cystic Fibrosis (if you don't know what it is, look it up) on December 30th and died after some operations, so that was very upsetting for me.

Also, I sent this chapter to my beta a couple weeks ago. She tried to send it a few days ago, but the email kept on bouncing back to her, but then she emailed me with another address, so I got it!! Anyway, please review like you have been!


	20. Chapter 17

Hey! (Enter apology for the late update). Anyway, it's finally up (no duh!) So… this chapter is another one of those pointless filler chapters. Just passing time until Katara has her baby, which is in the next one or two chapters (I'm writing chapter 18 now, though I have very little done).

Oh, and just so you know, there's foreshadowing _somewhere_ in this chapter. All I'll say is that it has to do with one of the scenes between Aang and Katara… you'll see! –Winks- Feel free to guess!

Anyway, after a few paragraphs, this story skips a few months to, like I said earlier, to pass time. I'm running out of ideas for pregnant Katara, okay? Just read! And of course, I gotta thank my beta daydream11 for taking time out of her busy schedule to edit this!

**Disclaimer:** (See previous chapters)

* * *

Katara was getting better and better every day. Her strength was slowly returning to normal (or as normal as it could get during the pregnancy) and she was soon able to get out and about, though she would get tired quickly. Whether it was because of the pregnancy or her getting over the illness, it was hard to say, but Kaye advised that she should take it easy for the last few months anyway. 

"Just don't over-exert yourself or anything," she told her one day. "One thing that can drain your energy quickly is waterbending, so ease off on that a bit until your child is born. Only use it if it's _absolutely_ necessary." Katara nodded, knowing that her advice was best for the baby.

Within a month, Katara was as close to being recovered as a pregnant woman could be. She still took it easy, and of course, having Aang around made everything much easier for her to handle. He was very happy that his wife and child were going to be okay, so he did everything to make sure Katara was always comfortable.

Before anyone could think about the time, Katara was nearly nine months pregnant. Her belly was very large, as was only to be expected, making walking a difficult task. The waterbender constantly complained about aches and pains, which Aang would try to ease with massages. Katara always said she felt better afterwards, but Aang knew it wasn't always true. On one particular afternoon, Katara and Aang sat in their home discussing the baby.

"So, Toph knows the gender?" the airbender asked as he placed a hand on his wife's belly.

"Yes, but she's keeping it to herself. I asked her not to say anything." Katara told Aang. The two had decided months ago to wait until the baby is born to find out the gender. "But I think it's a boy."

"Why do you think that?" Aang asked, taking his hand off her belly.

Katara shrugged. "I dunno… just a feeling." she smiled as she looked down at the large bump that had formed over the past thirty-eight weeks.

Aang smiled back. "A boy would be wonderful," he said happily. "But a girl would be just as wonderful, too," the Avatar added as an afterthought.

* * *

Haru and Toph sat in their own small hut discussing their future. Haru had noticed that Toph was unusually quiet. It seemed that something was bothering her, but when he had asked her about it, she swore it was nothing. Haru knew her better; she was hiding something… 

"Toph, please, just talk to me. Tell me what's bothering you."

"I _told_ you, _nothing's_ bothering me!" the blind girl said as she crossed her arms.

"Come on, I'm not an idiot; I know when you're upset about something. I just want to help you," Haru urged gently as he put his arm around his fiancée.

Toph sighed before speaking. "Well, I was just… a little nervous… about our wedding is all…" she finally managed to get out. _'Well, I wasn't lying…'_

Haru almost laughed in relief. "Is that all?" he asked her in a slightly playful tone. "You had me worried for a bit. Don't worry, Toph," he went on, "everything will be perfect. There's nothing to be nervous about."

"Yeah… nothing to worry about…" the blind woman said quietly staring at the ground.

* * *

"I kinda like the name Kylee…" Katara said as she rubbed her belly. 

"Kylee… doesn't that mean 'boomerang'?" Aang asked.

The waterbender laughed a bit before speaking up. "Yeah, I guess it does…" She shrugged. "But Sokka will like it!"

The married couple laughed before going back to debating baby names.

"Hey, Katara," Aang asked, not meeting his wife's eyes, "do you think that… maybe, if it's a boy, that… we can maybe name it… after Gyatso?"

Katara smiled and put her hand on Aang's. "That is _definitely_ a name to consider."

The Avatar smiled back and kissed the waterbender on the cheek. "Thanks, Katara."

After a few minutes of silence, Katara spoke again. "Maya…" she said thoughtfully, "for a girl."

Aang considered her for a few moments. "Maya…" he repeated. "That's cute. It's something else to consider." He nodded.

For the next half hour, the two debated over baby names, even joking about names, like Aang Jr., Appa and Momo, finally settling on three names for a girl, and three names for a boy.

* * *

One week before the baby was due, Katara wasn't very happy. She was _huge_, her whole body ached whenever she stood up, she was experiencing other discomforts as well, and she made sure that _everyone_ knew how much pain she was in by snapping at anyone who attempted to start a conversation with her. Unfortunately, when little Suri wanted to see her aunt, Katara had yelled at her to go away, reducing the four-year-old to tears. Luckily, Aang was there to comfort the little girl, telling her that it wasn't her fault and that her aunt just wasn't feeling well at the moment. 

One day, Aang and Katara were sitting on their bed with the airbender behind his wife, massaging her achy back. Suddenly, a messenger hawk flew through the open window behind them carrying a message with the Fire Nation emblem.

"Oh no, no, _no!_" Katara yelled, aggravated that Aang may have to go away yet again, especially a week before she gives birth. "That _better_ not be from Zuko asking you to go to the Fire Nation. You are _not_ going anywhere until our child is born! I don't care if there's another rebellion or if half the population has been wiped out! You are staying _right here_!"

During Katara's rant, Aang had taken the note and scanned its contents. "No, no; it's not that. Zuko says that everything is going great and that he and Mai are expecting their first child in about six months." the Avatar smiled at the news, though he was also relieved that he wouldn't have to leave Katara again.

"Oh, how nice," Katara said sarcastically. "Here, hand me some paper so I can tell Mai just how _lovely_ pregnancy is."

"Um, no…" Aang said, tucking the message in his pocket while the hawk flew off once again. "How about I get you a snack? Are you hungry?"

Katara's expression changed instantly from anger to happiness. "Yes, please, we're starving!" she said with a smile as she patted her belly.

Aang smiled back as he left the room, making a mental note to give Zuko his deepest sympathy in the upcoming months.

* * *

(And now, the "Long Author's Note from Hell" returns! –Dramatic music-) 

Someone asked if Zuko and Mai would be in it. I don't really like writing stories with the Fire Nation people in it. I dunno why… But I thought I'd just mention Zuko cause… why not?

Anyway, about the next chapter: I dunno when it'll be out (surprise, surprise!) unfortunately, my beta and I (and probably most (if not all) of you) have started school. All but one of my classes are in the mornings or early afternoon (my latest afternoon class lets out at 3:20), but I have a class Tuesdays from 6:30-9:20pm… and I got lotsa work as well with five classes… Okay, there was a point to that… I forget though… Ah well!

Please review on your way out. Reviews make me update faster! Even if I have to blow off schoolwork to write them! XD -Hugs-

Oh! I just remembered something I wanted to say!

Also, there is one other thing I've been considering: Tell me if this is something you'd like: I have many, many 'fun facts' about this story. I've had most of this story planned out since June, though there have been many changes, and there are stories behind a few of the scenes (for example: the small Tokka part in chapters 15-16… I've had a small debate with that for a long time!) I just don't know where to put 'em. I've been thinking of putting them at the beginning or end of each chapter cause… why not? Should I or would that be kinda dumb? Just lemme know! Thanks!


	21. Chapter 18

**Edit: January 30th, 2010**

WOW! I just realized that I hit over 100 reviews! Thanks to all my reviewers! -Hugs-

Okay, I'm sorry that this is so late. I was stuck on a few parts, then when I sent it to my beta, she was busy with school stuff, and then she got sick and was away from the computer. Anyway, this chapter isn't really all that good (because I have low self-esteem like that). I know what I wanted to happen, but I wasn't sure how to get there, so I just put down a buncha crap and I'm just hoping that with the work my beta did, it's halfway decent, so I'm sorry in advance for the sucky writing… And as always, I'd like to thank daydream11 for beta reading this, for without her, this chapter would've sucked even more! And I can't forget my reviewers! Thanks guys! –Gives cookies-

ONE last thing, I should warn you that this ends in a cliffhanger… -Gets shot-

**Disclaimer:** You know…

* * *

Katara's due date was only two days away and Aang thought that the baby could come any sooner if it wanted to keep its mother sane. Not only did the waterbender still have that snippy attitude, but she also was still _very_ uncomfortable; both which were understandable considering that she was carrying a full-term infant. She started to feel helpless the other day when she bent down to pick up something she dropped on the floor and couldn't get back up. She had to yell for Aang to help her.

"Just take it easy," Aang told her, for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Relax. Let me take care of everything."

Katara sighed and sat on the couch. Aang smiled at her before turning around to move a small cradle, which Katara had tried to carry before, into the bedroom.

"Do you know what we haven't done in a while?" Katara asked as Aang walked out of the bedroom a minute later.

Aang blushed and chuckled a bit. "I can think of a few things…"

A blush formed against Katara's cheeks as well as she swatted him in the side. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Aang," she said, shaking her head softly. "I'm talking about riding on Appa."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to take him out, you know, just to fly around a little bit. I've been thinking of seeing if Suri would like to come." Aang smiled, happy that he was going back into the air, where he always felt more at home.

"Then let's go to Sokka and Suki's place!" The pregnant woman took her husband's arm and tried to drag him out the door.

"Wait," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "You mean, now?"

Katara looked confused. "Yeah, when did you think I wanted to go?"

"I thought… you know, after the baby is born…" Aang said, eyeing Katara's round belly. "Is it even _safe_ for you to fly?"

"Of course it is!" Katara smiled, taking the airbender's hand off her shoulder. "I asked Kaye about that a while ago, and she said it's alright, as long as we don't go too high or are up for too long." She shrugged.

Aang considered her for a moment. "A-alright, if you're completely sure," he replied, a little worried.

* * *

"No!" Tayo screamed for the third time that morning. Suki was happy when her son had said his first word, but now, since he grew accustomed to screaming it, she wished that Tayo would just go back to babbling incoherently.

"Tayo, it's _just_ a bath!" Suki said with an exasperated sigh. "I thought you liked baths."

"No!" the ten-month-old screamed once more.

With another heavy sigh, Suki picked up her son and held him tightly to her chest as he screamed and tried to wiggle out of his mother's grip.

"Hello?" A voice called out from behind.

'_Oh, what now?'_ The warrior thought to herself as she turned around. "Oh," she said, seeing Katara and Aang looking through the doorway, while the little boy in her arms screamed louder. "Come on in."

"Oh, _fine_," Suki finally said to Tayo, putting him down on the floor. "I give up!"

"Having trouble?" Katara asked.

"It's nothing." Suki shook her head as she watched Tayo crawl away. "Anyway, what brings you guys here?"

Before either could answer though, they heard a yell of "Auntie 'Tara! Uncle Aang!" A four-year-old girl bounced out to see her aunt and uncle. "Is the baby coming out now?" she asked.

"No, not yet…" Aang said quietly, while Katara resisted the urge to scream. She _really_ wanted to have the baby already so she can finally do some of the things she once taken for granted, like being able to bend down without worrying about getting back up, not having backaches, breathing properly…

"Actually," Aang went on. "We came here to see if you would like to come for a ride on Appa… if it's okay with your mother that is." He turned to Suki, who looked unsure.

"Well, I dunno…" She hesitated for a moment, not knowing how safe it was on the bison for a small child.

"Don't worry, Suki," said Aang with a smile, "Katara and I will make sure Suri's as safe as possible."

Suki still looked unsure.

"_Pleeeeease_ Mommy?" The four-year-old begged, her hands laced together and an innocent expression on her face.

The young woman couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I guess it's alright. Just don't go too high or too fast… and don't be too long either!"

"We won't," Aang said as he and his wife smiled.

Suri squealed and hugged her mother before running outside in front of her aunt and uncle.

"We'll be back soon." Aang said, as Katara went outside to catch their niece.

* * *

After catching up to Suri and Katara, Aang led them to the giant bison. Appa growled happily, licking Aang.

"Okay, alright boy!" he said, laughing. "Come on, Appa. How do you feel about flying for a little bit tonight?"

Appa stood up, and shook off some of the snow that had gathered in his fur. The three took that as a 'yes'.

Aang smiled as he took Appa's gigantic saddle and airbended it on Appa's back. He then grabbed on to Suri and airbended the two up into the bison's saddle, before reaching down to give Katara a hand. Once the two were comfortable, Aang made his way to the beast's head, grabbing the reins. Looking back, he said "Alright, first time flyers… and long time flyers," he winked at Katara, "hold on tight! Yip-yip!"

With a flap of his tail, Appa took off into the sky. Suri gasped as she clung onto her aunt's arm.

As the giant bison flew around the city, Aang leapt off Appa's head, and on to his back, joining Katara and Suri.

"So," he said, turning to his niece, "how do you like flying?"

Unnoticed by the Avatar or the four-year-old, Katara's eyes suddenly widened.

"Aang…" she breathed desperately.

"It's cool! Did you do this every day?" Suri asked, not hearing her aunt call out Aang's name.

"Aang," Katara tried to say louder.

"Most days," he smiled, still not hearing the painful whispers of Katara. "But there were some—"

"AANG," the pregnant woman yelled. Both Aang and Suri jumped at the waterbender's sudden outburst.

The two looked over at Katara, who was clutching onto her large belly and had her teeth clenched together to keep her from crying out.

"Katara, what's wrong?" Aang asked, worried about what might be happening, though not forgetting to grab onto his niece's arm to keep her from wandering around the saddle.

"I-I think the baby's coming…" She groaned as another contraction hit.

"N-now…? R_ight_ now?"

"No, in about three months," Katara said sarcastically. "YES now!"

Once Aang landed Appa near his and Katara's hut, he had Suri grab on to his back, while he held Katara, and airbended the three to the ground.

"Suki," he yelled as Suri jumped off the Avatar's back before he lay Katara down against Appa, "Sokka!"

Moments later, the two appeared running outside, worried that something might've happened to their daughter.

"Aang," Sokka said as he and his wife skidded to a halt upon reaching them, "what's wrong?"

Before Aang could say anything, Katara intervened. "You see your little sister, who just so _happens_ to be nine months pregnant, sitting here in an _unbelievable_ amount of pain, and you're asking what's wrong? What the _hell_," Suki covered Suri's ears, "do you think is wrong with me?!"

"Oh, are you having the baby?" her brother asked, making Katara want to strangle him for sounding so calm.

"Come on, Sokka," Aang said to his brother-in-law. "Help me get her to the infirmary."

Sokka nodded as he followed the airbender over to Appa and helped him pick up his sister.

"My baby sister's having a baby!" he said happily.

"And you're gonna have some broken bones if you don't shut up." Katara said in a false sweet tone.

"Is Auntie 'Tara gonna have the baby?" Suri asked her mother, as she watched her father and uncle carry her aunt away.

"Yes she is!" Suki smiled.

* * *

-Gets shot- I know, I know, I'm bad with all these cliffhangers. But I couldn't have this NOT end in a cliffhanger. Anyway, chapter 19 is where Katara _finally_ gives birth to their child. I'm just about done with that one, but I'm still not sure when that'll be out (well, what else is new?)

Last thing… Last chapter I said something about putting in some 'fun facts' at the end of chapters just because… I can! Anyway, you don't have to read these. They're just random facts about the story that I thought may interest some of you. Okay, I'll stop talking so those who want to read can read, and those who don't will review! Thanks for reading!

"Fun" Facts (Don't ask why they're "fun"…):

-I have a journal where I write down some ideas for this story. The first entry is June 7th, 2007, though I didn't start writing this until about a month or two later. Originally, this story was going to take place six years after the war, rather than ten. I thought they were still a little too young to start families, so I just decided to make it an even ten years after the war.

-At first, Suri was two-years-old. However, when I was typing up the first scene in the first chapter with her and Suki, she seemed too mature for a two-year-old, so I aged her up a year. I still think she's mature for a three or four year old, but I wanted her to be very young because I've always had fun writing scenes that involved young children.

-For the longest time, I've debated with myself about the scenes at the end of chapter 15, and the beginning of chapter 16, with Toph and Sokka. I wanted to add in a little Tokka, but I also wanted Sokka with Suki, so at first, I was gonna have he and Toph kiss, but then I knew that it would make things lots more complicated. For one thing, it would've been wrong if Sokka didn't tell Suki, but if he did, she'd get all angry, and I wasn't sure how to fix their relationship after that. So in the end, I decided to have them _almost_ kiss, as it wouldn't be _too_ much of a big deal.

So, what'd you think? Lemme know so I can either not do these anymore, or so I can do more! Anyway, please review! Thanks!


	22. Chapter 19

Okay, sorry for the long wait, but I have chapter 19 right here (obviously). This is basically Katara giving birth, and I will say that there's a baby born at the end of this chapter (also kinda "duh"). Um, I don't really have any long-ass stories to put at the beginning of my author's notes as usual, so I'll start with the story of my life! –Shot- Okay, how 'bout I just shut up right now after saying "Thanks daydream11 for editing this!" and "Thank you all so much for all your wonderful reviews!"

**Disclaimer:** I'm not even gonna bother…

* * *

Once Aang and Sokka had made it to the infirmary, half carrying and half dragging Katara, the nurses knew exactly what was going on and wasted no time before getting her into one of the small beds in the hut.

"Ah, I thought I'd see you in here soon," Kaye said before directing her attention to the waterbender. "How are you feeling, Katara?"

"Other than having a human trying to force its way out of my body," Katara said in between her heavy panting, "I feel great."

Kaye smiled understandingly before turning around to help the other nurses prepare for the upcoming birth.

"I'm gonna go see Dad," Sokka said to Aang and Katara. "I'll tell him to come by. I also think I should make sure Suki's doing okay with the kids." He kissed his sister's forehead. "I'll come back later."

"Thanks, Sokka." Katara smiled at her brother as he left.

* * *

All throughout the night, Sokka, Suki, Hakoda, Toph, Haru, and even Momo were in and out of the infirmary, either making sure Katara was okay, or else asking the nurses how much longer it would be. Only Aang stayed by her side the entire time, making sure his wife was as comfortable as possible.

"How much… longer…?" Katara asked the same question whenever her contractions seemed to get closer together. She was sick of hearing the nurses tell her "not much longer now". How hard was it to get a straight answer out of these people? Fortunately, this time, Kaye gave a more accurate answer.

"If things keep on moving along as fast as they are now, then you should be ready to deliver in about an hour or so."

Katara sighed, thanking Yue that this would be over soon. Aang couldn't help but smile; he was going to be a father! He remembered seeing families on his visits around the world, praying to whatever gods would listen that he would also be able to have a family one day, too.

Twenty minutes later, Hakoda and Sokka walked in with a little lemur following closely behind.

"How are you doing?" Hakoda asked his daughter as Momo flew over to Aang.

"Alright," she said. "It shouldn't be too long now."

"Great," Sokka said. "Just don't have the baby when I'm in here. I still can't seem to forget what I saw when Ying had her baby on the Serpent's Pass… even if it _was_ more than ten years ago! That was one of the most nauseating, disgusting—" Unfortunately, Sokka was unable to finish his statement, as a thin stream of water had hit him across the head.

"Hey!" Kaye shouted, turning to Katara. "I thought I told you to not waterbend!" The healer failed at hiding the wide smile on her face as she guided the stream of water back into the large basin that sat beside the small bed.

* * *

To Katara, the minutes seemed to crawl by at an impossible slowness, especially when she was having a contraction. The waterbender was drenched in sweat, panting heavily, and sometimes letting out little whimpers of pain. She was lucky to have Aang there to comfort her.

"It's okay, Katara; you're going to be okay," the airbender whispered to her as he wiped her forehead with a cool cloth. "The baby will be here any minute now, don't you worry."

"How— how much longer?" Katara asked once more, this time with a begging tone present in her voice.

Kaye went over and sat on a stool by the bed, checking just how ready Katara was. After a few seconds, Kaye stood up and, instead of answering Katara, she turned to Sokka, Hakoda and Aang. "Okay, only one of you three can stay during the delivery."

"That would be me," Aang said, raising his hand with a smile.

"Alright then, Hakoda and Sokka, please wait outside." Kaye escorted the two men, and the lemur, out of the hut before joining the other nurses in getting ready to deliver.

* * *

The birth took quite some time. About twenty minutes of screaming, cursing, words of comfort and encouragement, and more cursing was enough for Katara. But finally, with one more scream from the waterbender, followed by one of the strangest sensations she had ever felt, the cry of an infant was heard. Panting heavily and sweating, the new mother looked up at Kaye, who smiled widely at the new parents as she held a brand new baby in her arms. Aang's eyes misted over at the sight of his child. It was… perfect. He finally tore his eyes away from the newborn, with difficulty, and he leaned down and kissed Katara's sweaty cheek, though the waterbender hardly noticed as she could not take her eyes off of the brand new…

"Healthy baby boy," Kaye announced as the baby's cries softened.

Katara sniffled as her husband took her into a hug. "A boy," he mused. "I have a son."

"Aang," Katara said softly. She was gonna have to tell him soon… it's not like he wasn't going to find out in a few minutes anyway.

It was then that Aang saw Kaye turn around and put the newborn in a small wooden cradle. "Wait… what… why…?" The airbender was confused. Shouldn't he be able to at least _hold_ his son right after he was born? Then, he saw the nurses get back into their positions at the end of the bed Katara was lying on. He gasped. "Katara…?"

"Aang," she said, not being able to contain it any longer. "We're having twins!"

* * *

-Shot-dead-killed- Yes, Katara is having twins. Before I go any further though, I want to give props to avatarthe last airbender rules, CrazyInSye, LazyShika16, and PandoraNC for guessing that Katara was having more than one baby (though one of you thought she was having four). So, you all get cookies! … Okay, okay, you ALL get cookies! XD Anyway, I only have like, one sentence of chapter 20 done, but I know how it's gonna go, so, as always, no clue when it'll be up! Hopefully before my spring break, which is from March 9th to the 15th. So, as always, please review and let me know what you think, but before I end this, here's another fun fact:

Fun Fact:

-Back in chapter two, Suri told Aang that when Suki was mad at Sokka, they'd go into the bedroom and come out later looking really happy, and when Suri asked what they were doing in there, Sokka said that they were saying how much they love each other. Well, I wasn't sure where to fit this in, but after their last fight when they were 'saying how much they loved each other', well, that was just under 20 months ago. Tayo is just over ten months old after spending nine months in the womb. You do the math. (And if you don't feel like it, I'll stop beating around the bush: that's when Tayo was conceived.)

-Coughs- Yeah… Anyway, I'll _try_ to get chapter 20 out ASAP, but with all the homework I have, well, we'll see where that goes… Thanks for reading!


	23. Chapter 20

Sorry for the wait for this chapter; especially since I kinda left you all on a cliffhanger… The good news is that last chapter was _hopefully_ the last chapter of this story that ends in a cliffhanger. I think I've been putting in too many of those evil "cliffies", and you all have been very good about it so I've decided to give you all a break. Anyway, as always, I have to thank daydream11 for looking things over, and of course, I also wanna thank all of my reviewers! –Many hugs-

**Disclaimer:** Roses are red, violets are blue, I do not own Avatar…

* * *

"T-twins…?" Aang was stunned, to say the least. _'Has she known about this all along?'_ he asked himself. 

"Aang, are you alright?" Katara asked him, sounding a little bit amused.

"No— I mean yeah— I mean… _what_…? How… how long have you known about this?"

"I've known for a long time, but now's not the moment to discuss this," Katara said, gripping onto her stomach and scrunching her face in pain. "Because whether you like it or not, the other baby's coming _now_!"

Aang had no choice but to bite his tongue, for now, on all the questions he had. _'There would be time for that later,'_ he thought as he took Katara's hand once again.

It was another few minutes before the other baby was born. This time, however, it was a beautiful, healthy baby girl.

After Kaye cleaned up the newest newborn, she carried the infant girl over to her parents while another nurse took the boy.

"Here you are," a nurse said, handing the boy to Aang as Kaye gave the girl to Katara, "two perfectly healthy babies."

"Thank you," Katara said to the nurses as she looked down at her daughter. Her blue-gray eyes were wide open, moving from left to right, taking in the sights of this new world.

"That's no problem," Kaye said. "That's what we're here for!"

"Would you like a few minutes alone?" another nurse asked Aang.

"If you don't mind," the airbender nodded, leaning down beside Katara.

Once they were alone, Katara and Aang sat there in silence for a few moments before Aang spoke. "I-I can't believe… our children. These are our _children_!"

Katara continued smiling as she nodded her head.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" The Avatar looked over to his wife and sighed, "About you having twins, I mean."

Katara shrugged. "I dunno… I wanted it to be a surprise. When Toph told me that I could be having twins, I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to say something."

"So, you knew about this all along?" Aang asked as his son opened his eyes and gazed into his father's face with the same blue-gray eyes as his sister. Aang smiled at him while Katara continued.

"Well, sort of. When I asked Toph if she could feel any life inside of me, she thought that she felt more than one heartbeat, but she wasn't sure since it was very faint," Katara gently rocked her daughter as she started to whimper softly. "I had her come back a couple months later to check again, and she was positive then."

"I still can't believe that you kept this from me." Aang shook his head in disbelief.

"I'm sorry about that, but that's irrelevant now. We still need to name these two, you know," she replied.

"Do you mind if you have a few visitors?" Katara and Aang looked towards the entrance of the hut and saw Hakoda peeking in.

"Oh, not at all!" Katara smiled as her father waked in along with Sokka, who had apparently spread the news as he was holding Suri, and Suki, Tayo, Toph (with Momo on her shoulder), and Haru followed them in.

"Kaye told us that you had twins. You didn't even tell your family!" Sokka said, peering down at his niece and nephew.

"I wanted to surprise everyone! Is that a crime now?" the waterbender asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"You have _two_ babies?" Suri asked, eyes widening, as she had never thought that two babies could be born at the same time.

"Yes, we do." Katara smiled at her niece. "The baby I'm holding is a girl, and the one Aang has is a boy."

"What are their names?" the four-year-old asked.

"We were just about to decide before you guys came in," Aang answered.

"Well, I say we name the boy Sokka Junior!" Sokka patted Aang on the shoulder as he stared at the baby boy.

"I think I like Aang Junior better," Katara whispered to her husband, who chuckled lightly.

"Oh! Or we could." Katara sighed as her brother continued speaking. "No, listen to me! _Or_ we could give the two rhyming names like…" The warrior looked around the room as if he were trying to find ideas on rhyming names. "Like Hoph and Toph!" He smiled in Toph's direction. The blind earthbender didn't seem to share the same humor, as she threw out her arm in the direction of Sokka's voice, smiling when Sokka's grunt of pain told her that she had hit her mark.

"Um, _no_." Katara rolled her eyes. "Aang and I already have a few names picked out for these two."

"One of the boy names is Hakoda." Aang looked up at his father-in-law, who smiled. "The others are Gyatso and Hiro." The other occupants of the rooms nodded appreciatively at the names.

"For the girl," Katara said, "we were thinking of the names Kana, Maya, and Kylee."

"How about naming the girl Suri?" Suri asked her aunt who gave a small laugh.

"Well, that _is_ a very pretty name, but it will be confusing having two Suri's around." Suri shrugged nonchalantly.

"So, what do you all think?" Katara went on, turning to the others. "Aang and I were deciding on naming them Gyatso and Maya."

There was a murmur of agreement among the crowd, before Aang spoke. "Actually, I don't think Gyatso's a good idea now."

Katara looked confused. "Why's that?"

"I don't know. I just… don't think he looks much like a Gyatso." He gently stroked the infant's soft, dark skin.

"Alright… so that leaves either Hakoda or Hiro." Katara looked up at the others to get their input.

"Hiro," Hakoda spoke up. "You two really don't need to name your child after me. Hiro sounds fine."

Katara and Aang thought for a moment. "So, Hiro and Maya…?" Aang turned to Katara who nodded. "Hiro and Maya… I like that!" He smiled.

"I still think Sokka Junior would be a good idea…" Sokka said quietly.

"How about this," Suki turned to her husband. "Our next boy will be named Sokka Junior, okay?" She then turned to the new parents. "Those are perfect names!"

"Can I see my cousins?" Suri asked, trying to wiggle out of her father's arms.

"Sure." The waterbender smiled at her niece as Sokka placed her on the bed.

Suri carefully crawled over to Katara and Maya and pat the infant's dark hair as Aang moved closer with Hiro in his arms.

"They look a little like Tayo when he was born," the four-year-old said, looking over to the newborn in her uncle's arms. "But Tayo had _brown_ eyes… and his body wasn't dark… and he wasn't twins… or a girl…" The adults in the room all laughed as the little girl trailed off.

After another twenty minutes of passing the babies around, cooing over the newborns, and many hugs, everyone decided to leave and give Aang and Katara some time alone.

"You okay?" Aang asked his wife who seemed to be dozing off after a few minutes.

"Yeah, just tired," she told him. "It's been a long, hard day."

"Well, Yue knows that you— or _we_— will need as much sleep as we can get." The airbender said as he gently placed Hiro in a small cradle on the other side of the bed, then took Maya and put her in another cradle next to her brother's.

"Now get some rest." Aang knelt down next to Katara and softly kissed her on the cheek. "Maya, Hiro and I will be right here with you. Forever…"

* * *

And there you have it: Twins Hiro and Maya. I've actually had these names planned out since the beginning (in my notebook where I wrote down all my original ideas, the date is June 7th, 2007). Anyway, just in case you care, Hiro's name is pronounced like He-roh and Maya's name is pronounced just like its spelled (May-uh)!

* * *

Fun Facts: 

- Zuko and Mai aren't really going to be in this story (sorry). I don't really like writing about the Fire Nation people for some reason… But I did want them to be mentioned at least. First, I had Mai and Zuko have a little boy and twins (girls) on the way. When I wrote that one scene in chapter 17, I wanted to add in Katara's comment about wanting to tell Mai how lovely pregnancy was, so I'll just say she's pregnant with a boy, and will have twin girls later…

-I have many, many ideas for some scenes, but those are either scenes that I couldn't fit in to any of the chapters for one reason or another, or scenes that won't happen until after I end the story (sometime in between the last chapter and the epilogue, which is 15 years), so I'm considering making a series of one-shots after I finish this story. What do you all think?

* * *

Anyway, chapter 21's almost finished, but I go back to school on Monday, so I dunno when I'll get that up... So thanks for reading and please review! 


	24. Chapter 21

Sorry this took a while… I had horrible writer's block, but I am determined to finish this story 'cause it really bugs me when people start stories and never finish them, so don't worry, I WILL finish this story if it's the LAST thing I EVER do!! –Coughs- Sorry… got a little carried away there… How 'bout I just shut up and get on with the story after I thank my reviewers for… reviewing… and also thank daydream11 for looking this over?

**Disclaimer:** Didja know that Avatar won the Kid's Choice Award for favorite cartoon? It's true! Congrats to Mike and Bryan (and NOT Summer 'cause she doesn't own Avatar) for making the best show ever!

* * *

After a couple days in the infirmary, Katara and Aang were able to leave with their new son and daughter. Just as they expected, the new parents didn't get much sleep the first few nights, especially since the twins tended to start crying simultaneously. Thankfully, however, they had a lot of help from everyone in the tribe, who were more than happy to help out the Avatar and his wife.

On one of those rare, quiet days, about a week after the twins were born, Katara was to be found sitting on the couch with Hiro and Maya, each happily sucking away on their mother's breasts. Aang had left a few minutes before with Suri to fly on Appa, since their last trip had to be cut short. While Aang was reluctant to leave his wife and children, Katara convinced him that she will be fine with the twins, and told him to go, as she wanted to spend some time alone with her children. So here she sat, alone for the first time with her son and daughter. That is, of course, until her brother burst into the hut.

"Hey Katara, how's everything go—? _Katara!_ _Put on a shirt!_" Sokka yelled as he covered his eyes upon seeing his sister, who had her shirt opened up in order to feed her children.

"I'm just feeding Hiro and Maya," Katara said, rolling her eyes at her brother as she looked up from the twins, who were still latched on to a nipple. "And besides, it's not like you've never ogled Suki when she was feeding Suri or Tayo…"

"But that's different! Suki's my wife! You're my sister!" Sokka argued, still not taking his hand away from his eyes. "I don't wanna see you shirtless!"

"Then you should have knocked!" the waterbender said angrily as Sokka turned to leave, still not daring to uncover his eyes, and bumped into the icy wall. Katara had to hold back a laugh as her brother cursed softly, rubbing his head.

Sokka carefully uncovered his eyes, making sure that he was staring at the wall, which now had a small dent in it. "Bye," he mumbled as he finally found the doorway and exited the hut.

With a small chuckle, Katara looked back down at her children and sighed. "I sure hope that idiocy isn't hereditary…"

* * *

After flying around on Appa for about fifteen minutes, the Avatar pulled his bison in for a landing.

"Hold on tight!" he called to his niece as Appa gently dove downward. Suri did as she was told and soon felt Appa hit solid ground.

"So, did you have fun?" Aang asked, turning around and hopping in the saddle to help Suri off.

"Yes, I did. Thanks for taking me, Uncle Twinkle Toes!" The four-year-old replied cheerily as she was set down on the ground by her uncle, who stared at her in disbelief.

"W-what did you call me?" Aang asked her.

"Uncle Twinkletoes! Auntie Top told me to call you that!" she answered innocently, smiling all the while. "She said you like it when people call you that!"

Aang didn't know what to say. He never really minded when Toph called him Twinkle Toes, but having anyone else call him that… well, that would just get annoying; and that, Aang figured, is why Toph told Suri about that nickname he thought he had left behind years ago. Suddenly, a thought occurred to the young airbender, and he smiled. "Okay, next time you see Toph," the Avatar's smile grew, "call her Prissy Pants. She absolutely _loves_ that!"

"Okay!" Suri smiled as the two made their way back to her parent's hut.

* * *

"Hey, Toph?" Haru leaned over towards his fiancée, who sat at the small table in the hut the two earthbenders shared.

"Mm…?" she replied indifferently.

"I think I realized why you've been depressed lately," Haru continued.

"Who says I'm depressed?" Toph looked up towards her fiancée's voice.

"Well, you've been kinda distant lately, and you seem so sad." The male earthbender put a hand on Toph's shoulder.

"So, why do you think I'm _depressed_" The blind earthbender rolled her eyes at the last word.

"Look, you and I both know that you're sick of this place since you can't see on the ice." Haru explained. "But you don't want to leave since your friends are here."

Toph considered Haru's words for a moment then slowly nodded her head with a sigh.

"Well, what do you want to do?" he asked, knowing that this wasn't going to be an easy decision for her. She could either stay here with her friends and be without sight, or they could go back to the Earth Kingdom, leaving their friends, but enabling Toph to be able to 'see' again.

"I… kind of want to… go back home… with you, if that's okay," Toph said after taking a minute to mentally weigh her options. "I know a few people around our home, and you're there with me, so I'm not totally alone."

Haru nodded. "Then tomorrow I'll go check to see if there will be any ships going out to the Earth Kingdom anytime soon."

"Thanks, Haru." Toph smiled as she kissed him on the cheek.

* * *

After Aang dropped his niece off next door, he went back home.

"Hello," he greeted when he entered the hut, only to quickly put a hand over his mouth once he saw Katara, who seemed to be half-asleep on the couch, holding a sleeping infant in each arm. Unfortunately, Aang's greeting was enough to jerk Katara out of her light sleep.

"Sorry," he apologized, leaning down towards the waterbender to kiss her cheek.

"That's alright." Katara yawned and stretched out her arms the best she could without waking the children. Maya stirred a bit, but otherwise did not wake. "I've just been exhausted lately."

The airbender smiled before gently picking up Maya and cradled her in his arms. "Why don't you just take a break? Take some time to rejuvenate yourself. I can take care of the babies for the rest of the day."

"No, it's okay. I'm not that t-tired…" Katara failed to stifle another yawn. Aang laughed.

"Come on," he whispered as he started towards their room to put the babies back into their cradles, "it's no problem. They're my children, too!" Katara giggled as she stood with Hiro, who was still fast asleep, and followed Aang into their room, gently placing her son in the small crib next to Maya's.

Katara then got into the bed she and Aang shared and fell asleep almost instantly, but not before feeling a gentle kiss on her forehead and hearing: "Sleep well. I love you."

* * *

It seems like the only endings I can write are either sappy endings or cliffhangers… Which would you rather? I can do more cliffhangers! –Gets shot-

Fun Fact (I'm running outta ideas):

-I LOVE foreshadowing! I often put in teeny-tiny clues about what could happen in future chapters. I don't think there are any clues in this chapter, but there were quite a few times when I very subtly hinted that Katara was gonna have twins, and there was even one that somewhat foretold that Toph still had feelings for Sokka. (Virtual cookies to whoever can figure out that very subtle Tokka hint, though I don't think it's easy to find)…

Okay, that's it for now. I haven't even _started_ chapter 22 yet, but don't worry! I will get it up as soon as I can! Anyway, reviews make the world go round (okay, maybe not the _world_, but it keeps this story going), so review!

_(Just a side note added on at the last minute, I'm not sure if it's the site or my computer, but there seems to be an issue with this site's editing page. Since I am too ADHD to read though this right now, please let me know if you find any major mistakes with the formatting or repeated scenes, etc. Thanks!)_


	25. Chapter 22

No, you're not dreaming. Chapter 22 is FINALLY up!

I am SOOO sorry about the long wait. First, I wanna thank all your for your reviews and patience with me! –Hugs all around- Anyway, I've been busy with school, which is one reason why this is so late, but yesterday was my last day, so I now have more time to finally finish this story!

So, I started writing this chapter March 17th, and I totally blanked out on ideas. I talked to my beta and sent this to her, but she was grounded from the computer for some reason, so it took her a while to give me feedback on this. She didn't write a whole lot for this chapter, which was what I was hoping for, but she said that it was my story and I could do whatever, and she gave me a few suggestions that I was gonna put in chapter 23, but I'll move it up to this chapter for the sake of moving it along.

One last thing before I shut up so you can read this story: There are only gonna be maybe two or three more chapters, plus the epilogue. This story will be finished within the next month or so (if all goes well). Okay. Sorry about the long author's notes. I'll let you read now!

Thanks daydream11 for looking over this for me!

**Disclaimer:** New Avatar episodes are coming out in _July_. If I owned the show, it would be airing _much_ sooner (or now!)

* * *

Early the next morning, Aang and Katara were awoken by the sound of crying from Maya. Unfortunately, this woke Hiro up and he started crying as well.

"Alright," Katara groaned as she pulled back the covers and got out of bed. "I'm coming."

With a wide yawn, Aang got up as well and moved over to the two cradles to pick up one of the twins. "I think they're hungry," he said as he stifled another yawn. Katara nodded sleepily as she sat back down on the bed, undoing her shirt with one hand as she held Hiro in the other.

"Here," Aang murmured quietly after Katara opened up her shirt and positioned Hiro on her left. The Avatar handed over his daughter and helped position her other side to feed. Soon enough, both infants were happily eating their breakfast. The two parents sighed tiredly and relaxed.

* * *

Later that morning, Toph and Haru had gone over to the docks, asking if any boats were going out to the Earth Kingdom any time soon. As luck would have it, there was a ship that was departing in just a few hours. After a quick "thanks", the two were off to tell their friends.

* * *

"Okay Tayo, since you're turning one next month, it's time you take some 'sponsibility around the house." Suri sat in front of her little brother in his room, giving a similar speech that her father had given her after Suki found out she was pregnant with Tayo.

Tayo paid no attention to his sister as he chewed on his hand.

"First, you need to learn to do things for yourself! Mommy and Daddy aren't always gonna be here to get you everything!" The 11-month-old gave no indication that he understood what Suri had said. Instead, he tried to see how much of his tiny fist he could fit into his mouth.

"Second," Suri continued, "you gotta stop eating your hand! It's _not_ food!" Suri leaned over and took her brother's fist out of his mouth. Tayo gave out an annoyed cry of "NO!" and yanked his hand away from his sister's grip before putting it back in his mouth. Suri sighed.

"_Fine!_" The four-year-old girl stood up and made her way to the door. "Just don't come crying to me when you get your hand stuck in your mouth!"

* * *

After a few hours, the two earthbenders were all packed and ready to leave. The two, along with Sokka, Suki, Suri, Tayo, Aang, Katara, and the twins, met them at the dock.

"I hope we'll be seeing you soon!" Katara said as she gave Toph a one-armed hug, Maya occupying her other arm.

"I better see you soon! You have to come for the wedding!" Toph smiled as she hugged her friend back.

"Goodbye Haru," the waterbender said as Haru went over to her and gave her a hug. "It was great seeing you again." She smiled.

"Great to see you, too and we'll see you soon!" The earthbender smiled at his friend, and for just a second, when she looked in his eyes, she thought she felt something… a returning feeling, maybe? She quickly dismissed that thought and vowed to never mention that to anyone.

"Bye-bye Auntie Prissy Pants," Suri said as she hugged the blind earthbender around the middle.

Toph bent over to hug the little girl before Suri's words hit her. "Bye Sur— _what_ did you call me?" Toph stood up straight and put her hands on her hips, ignoring the sounds of laughter coming from the rest of the group.

"I called you Auntie Prissy Pants. Uncle Twinkle Toes told me to call you that." Suri grinned innocently.

Toph smiled at the girl as she bent down once again and hugged her. "Just Auntie Toph is fine, Suri."

Toph went over to Aang and gave him a hug and said quietly to him, "I'll get you back later."

Afterwards, Toph 'looked' towards Sokka for a few moments before she reached out to him. He hugged her warmly, enjoying her embrace a little more than he thought he should, before he realized that their touch lasted a few moments too long. They quickly let go of him and they stood silent, looking anywhere but at each other until the men on the boat called over to the group saying they were just about to head out. Hoping no one had noticed, Toph came to her senses, and after a few more short goodbyes, Toph and Haru walked hand in hand over to the docks. Haru carefully led his fiancée over the platform and onto the boat. After everyone was safely on, the boat started to move north. The group that was left at the South Pole waved to their friends (though Toph couldn't tell) until they disappeared into the horizon.

* * *

And there's chapter 22. I'm sorry that this is so short after this long wait, but... well, life goes on! XD -avoids bullets- Anyway, as always, I have no idea when chapter 23 is coming out; and sorry, no more fun-facts. I ran outta things to say… I needa life… So anyway, please review and let me know what you all think. I have a few ideas for chapter 23, but I don't have any of it written down. Since school's ended for me, I'll have more time, though I'm going on a trip at the end of the month. My ultimate goal is to finish this near the end of June since that's when I'm moving (one week before my birthday… yet _another_ birthday of unpacking… I hate Virginia…). Okay, sorry bout that. I tend to tell people about my life whether they care or not. I'll stop typing now so you all can review! Thanks for reading! –Hides in hole-


	26. Chapter 23

Yeah, I know. It's been a month since my last update. My beta and I have been busy. She just recently finished school, so she had lots to do. And I'm moving in about a week, so I've been busy as well. Anyway, next chapter is the last chapter before the Epilogue (which I've been almost done with for months now). I wanted to get this story over with before I moved, though unfortunately, since I _just_ got this chapter back, and I'm not even done with chapter 24, that's probably not going to happen… but I'll let you all read the chapter before talking about the details. But first, I'd like to thank all my reviewers for sticking with me through the ten months this story has been going on for, and second, thanks to daydream11 for being a wonderful beta and looking over my stories and helping me to become a better writer!

**Disclaimer:** Seriously, do you REALLY think I own this show?

* * *

Two weeks passed since Toph and Haru went back to the Earth Kingdom, and everyone had returned to their daily lives of doing various chores of hunting, cooking, raising kids, and whatever else their everyday lives required.

Unfortunately, a few days after the couple left, Pakku was found in his hut early that morning, lying in his bed... _dead_. The healers who examined him said that he died of natural causes. Pakku was, after all, in his nineties. A memorial service was held, not unlike the one the Tribe had for Kana a little over eight years ago. He was buried in the small gravesite just outside the Tribe, right next to his once-betrothed.

As for the waterbending lessons, Katara was now in charge of the bending training. Because of her new family, though, she was only able to teach for short periods of time so she acquired a few other waterbenders to teach the children what they ought to know, though it was understood that none of them were as good as Pakku or Katara.

Meanwhile, Tayo's first birthday was just around the corner. Along with turning one, Tayo was also now able to stand up on his own, and even take one or two steps, before falling back down on his bottom, giggling, eager to try again.

One evening, while Aang was outside feeding Appa and Momo, Katara was taking care of her three-week-old twins. She was sitting on the couch holding Hiro, very gently bouncing him in her arms, looking down at him and smiling. Maya was lying down nearby, peacefully resting. Before Katara could react, the newborn girl wrinkled her nose and sneezed, sending a small current of air around the room. Katara screamed as she jumped to her feet, almost dropping Hiro, who immediately started crying at the startling scream. His scream was echoed by his sister, also frightened from the unexpected noise. Aang heard the screams and ran in a few moments later, looking around the small house for any signs of danger.

"Katara, what's wrong? What happened?" he asked, panicked, after spotting nothing that indicated that anyone was hurt.

By now, the twins cries were starting to soften. After handing her son over to her husband, Katara picked up Maya and hugged her tightly.

"Katara, what happened?" Aang asked again nervously.

Katara kissed Maya's forehead before looking back at Aang, smiling widely. "She's an airbender!"

Aang looked at his wife, confused, wondering if he had heard correctly. "What?"

"Maya," Katara laughed. "She sneezed, and… and… she airbended!"

The Avatar's confused look suddenly broke into a big smile. He walked over to his wife and daughter and hugged Katara around the waist with one arm, as Hiro currently occupied his other arm.

"Th—that's wonderful!" Aang cried, laughing. "It's fantastic! We have another airbender in the world!" He then bent over and kissed Maya's cheek.

"Yeah," Katara said. "It took me by surprise, too. It all happened so fast! I can honestly say I was not expecting that!" She laughed.

"I wasn't expecting to find out their bending abilities until they were a little older." Aang said. "Just barely one month old and she's already bending!"

"What do you think about Hiro?" Katara asked, turning towards the infant in her husband's arms. "Do you think he'll be an air or waterbender?"

Aang looked down at his son, whose big grey-blue eyes stared up at his father.

"I'm not sure." Aang said. "If he is an airbender, he should be showing signs soon, but if he's a waterbender, I don't think we can find out until later."

"Well," Katara said, looking from Maya to Hiro, "even if Hiro doesn't turn out to be any kind of bender, it wouldn't matter. They'll both still be loved the same."

* * *

"Suri, please, Mommy's not feeling well." Sokka said to his daughter as she yelled for her mother for the third time in the past five minutes. "What is it that you want? I can get it for you." Sokka was exhausted. With Suki sick, he had to take care of the children. While Sokka loved both his daughter and son, they were a handful. He often wondered how Suki did it all.

"Me and Tayo want a snack," Suri said.

"Alright, what would you two like?" her father asked.

"Well, I asked Tayo what he wanted, but I don't know what he said. But I want… hm…" Suri stopped to think about what it was she wanted.

"Sokka!" a voice yelled out from the hallway. Sokka turned to see his wife, running towards him.

"Suki," he said, "what are you doing out of bed?"

Suki laughed. "I found out what's wrong with me."

"I thought it was a cold or something." Sokka told his wife.

"No!" Suki smiled. "I'm pregnant!"

A stunned silence greeted these words.

"You—you're pregnant?" Sokka asked after finding his voice.

Slowly, Suki nodded, unable to stop smiling.

Sokka smiled. "We're having another baby!" he said, hugging his wife and spinning her around once.

"Suri," Suki turned to her daughter. "Did you hear what's happening?"

"You're having a baby?" she asked, wondering if, maybe this time, she could meet the stork-weasel and help pick out the baby… maybe a little sister this time…

"Yes, aren't you excited?" Suki asked.

"Uh-huh!" the four-year-old smiled before turning to her father. "Can Tayo and me have our snacks now?"

* * *

And that's chapter 23 (obviously)! Sorry it's so short. I'm just about out of ideas for the story, which is why there's only one last chapter (before the Epilogue). Oh, before I forget, I updated the introduction last month (May 26th). That was originally written a little under a year ago, about a month before season three came out, and it also wasn't very good. You don't have to read it again, since it's basically the same thing, just better written…

Long-ass author's note, though with info on the rest of the story:

Anyway, here's how the rest of this story's gonna go, progress-wise (just pretend that's a word): I'm moving outta state on the 21st, (against my will, though it's just for the summer as I'm going to school here) though I'm losing the internet/computer late Wednesday. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I'll only be without my computer for no longer than a week (six days, I think, though that's forever for me). Like I said earlier, I was hoping to get this story done with before I move, though I'm not finished with chapter 24 or the Epilogue yet. So then, I thought that I could finish by the end of this month. I don't THINK that'll happen either, since I'm most likely getting my computer back on the 24th, and I still need to finish the rest of the story. It's possible though, like if I finish chapter 24 before I leave (possible), then after, I figure out how to end the Epilogue (possible), and my beta takes a week, per chapter, to look over them (again, possible). I'm almost positive this'll be done before Avatar airs (in exactly one month from today), though things can happen. I'll let you all know for sure after I post chapter 24, which will hopefully be up in two or three weeks. Thanks for understanding!

Not-as-long-ass notes about the one-shots:

As of now, I have maybe five one-shots. A lot of them aren't going to be looked over by my beta since these are alternative scenes that I want to leave as is to show you all, and there are some that my beta will be looking over, one of which she already looked over, though I still have lotsa editing to do. That won't be up till after I finish LGO, as always, not sure when exactly, but not too long after, so if you wanna read those, keep me on author alert!

Sorry for the long author's notes, thanks for reading and please review! Even though I don't answer every single one, I still read and appreciate them.


	27. Chapter 24

Whew! Finally the last chapter of this story is out, though I'm excluding the Epilogue. I don't count that since it takes place many years (15 years to be exact) after this storyline. I originally wanted to have this out a last week (Monday the 30th), cause it was my birthday and I wanted to be like "OMG, it's my birthday!" cause I'm an idiot like that. But today, I'm 20 years, one week and one day old! XD

There is a chance that I may make some changes to this chapter. I emailed my beta yesterday after I got this chapter back, but she hasn't answered yet, and I really wanna get this out today. If I do make some changes, they will hopefully be very minor. I'm just letting you all know. If I end up making some major changes, I'll take down the chapter and put it back up so those of you who have me on author/story alert will get the message!

Anyway, there are lots more I wanna say, but I'll let you all read this chapter first! Thanks much daydream11 for being such a big help with this. Without you, this chapter wouldn't have an ending! (Seriously!)

**Disclaimer:** -insert clever/witty "I don't own Avatar" line here-

* * *

The next eight weeks went by fairly uneventfully. The Water Tribe received news from Haru and Toph, who have made their new home in Omashu. They built a large house out of stone and earth; better for Toph to see, and they had even set a date for the wedding— in just four months, they were ready to become husband and wife.

Tayo's first birthday was just a few days after Suki announced her pregnancy. The party for Tayo wasn't very big or loud— only a small gathering of the family. The birthday boy provided the most entertainment; he started shouting some of the new words he had learned, the most of which had Suki and Sokka scrambling to stuff his mouth with cake in order to keep him quiet. His relatives found it amusing that he had learned a few curse words at such a young age.

The three new waterbending teachers were doing very well with the children. Katara would sometimes observe them every now and again when she was able to leave the house.

On one of those rare, quiet days, Aang ushered Katara out of the house, telling her that he'd be fine alone with the twins. After a weak argument on Katara's part, she finally gave in.

"You're doing great, guys," Katara told the waterbending students she was watching. "Wow! Mika has definitely improved," she said to Adaya, the waterbending teacher for the younger children.

"Oh yes," Adaya said, glancing at the group of the young waterbenders before turning her attention back to Katara. "Mika has already mastered the basics."

"That's great to hear!" Katara smiled. "And Hota tells me that her brother Milo got moved into the advanced class?"

Adaya nodded. "Yes, we're all very impressed with how fast he's progressing. You must've been a great teacher!" She smiled, lightly nudging Katara in the side.

Katara laughed. "Flattery will get you anywhere!"

"Master Katara," Mika called out. "Look at this!" once the young girl was sure her old master was watching, she produced a water whip. While it wasn't the best Katara had ever seen, it was definitely an improvement.

"That was very good Mika!" Katara said before walking over to where the six-year-old stood. "But you need to lift your hands a little higher. Here, let me show you…"

Adaya smiled as she watched Katara demonstrating the correct hand movements. "It's a shame she can't teach full-time." she said to herself.

* * *

A few minutes later, Katara walked into her home to find Aang fast asleep on the couch with Hiro and Maya in his arms, and Momo snoring right besides them.

Katara stifled a laugh, unsure whether or not she should wake them up. After a few moments of consideration, she decided to wake Aang, hopefully without waking the kids.

"Aang," she whispered, poking her husband in the shoulder.

"Hmm…?" he groggily opened his eyes and saw his wife. "Oh, hey Katara," he said softly.

"Tired?" she asked, kissing him on the cheek.

"Yeah, kinda," he stifled a yawn with his hand. "I was rocking these two to sleep, and I guess I kinda dozed off too."

"Here, let me help you with them." Katara smiled, bending over to pick up Hiro. Aang then got to his feet, following Katara to their bedroom.

"You know," Aang said after they put the two to bed. "I've been thinking… we need more bedrooms in here for when the children get older."

"I guess you're right…" Katara looked around the house; now that she put that into perspective, it looked _much_ too small to house a family of four.

"I mean, we don't need to do anything _now_, just… you know… eventually." Aang shrugged.

"Yeah, eventually…" Katara repeated faintly as Aang walked into the kitchen for a snack.

* * *

Hakoda arrived at the front door of his son and daughter-in-law's home for a visit. Of course, the chief couldn't take two steps inside before he heard a shriek of "_Grandpa!_" and soon found a young girl attached to his leg.

"Oh, hello Suri," he laughed, glancing down at his granddaughter.

"Hi, Grandpa!" Suri said brightly as she let go of her grandfather's leg, looking up at him with her big brown eyes.

"Hey, Dad; what are you doing here?" Sokka asked as he came into the main room, holding a squirming Tayo with Suki trailing right behind.

"I just thought I'd stop by." He shrugged, making his way over towards his son, holding out his arms for his grandson. "Need a hand?"

"Yeah, thanks." Sokka handed his son over to his father. "He's getting heavy!"

"Hello Tayo," Hakoda smiled at the young boy. "Can you say 'grandpa'?" Tayo didn't say anything, instead settling on giving his grandfather a confused look. "Guess not." Hakoda chuckled.

"Hey Grandpa, did you bring your knife?" Suri asked. Suki let out an exasperated sigh.

"_How_ many times have we talked about this, Suri? You're not—"

"—to touch grandpa's knife." the four-year-old finished, having heard that order dozens of times before.

"If you know that, then why do you keep on asking?" Suki asked her daughter.

"'Cause maybe you'll change your mind?" Suri asked innocently. The three adults couldn't help but laugh.

"Hakoda, why don't you sit down?" Suki asked her father-in-law. Hakoda nodded his thanks and took a seat, placing Tayo in his lap.

"So Suki," the chief of the tribe turned to his daughter-in-law who took a seat across from him. "How's the pregnancy going?"

Suki put a hand on her belly, which was just slightly swollen. "It's going alright. Just a little morning sickness is all; not too bad. I've been through this all twice before," she laughed. "I think I can handle it."

"So what are you hoping for?" Hakoda asked, "A boy or girl?"

Suki and Sokka looked at each other in wonder, but before either of them could say anything, Suri cut in. "I wanna little sister!" she said. "I already have a brother and now I wanna sister!"

"Well, I think we all know what Suri's hoping for." Suki smiled at her daughter. "But I'll be happy with whatever the spirits give us."

"If the spirits _do_ give me another brother," Suri whispered to her grandfather, "I'll ask Auntie 'Tara to take Mommy's new baby and give me Maya instead." Hakoda just had to laugh at the young girl's comment.

* * *

Katara and Aang both ran into their bedroom at the sound of the twin's screaming about an hour after they had been put down for a nap. Once they were in their parent's arms, however, their screaming immediately ceased, and all was well for them.

"I swear they do this on purpose." Katara said, smiling at her daughter who was snuggled in her arms. "They know we'll hold them if they scream."

"They're taking advantage of us." Aang laughed.

"Ah, the joy of children," the waterbender said quietly

"So Katara, how many more would you like to have?" Aang asked while raising his eyebrow's suggestively.

Katara laughed. "Oh, I dunno… but I would like to have a lot of children!" she looked down at Maya, who smiled back at her mother.

"That's perfect," Aang said, "because we _do_ have an entire nation to re-populate."

The next few moments passed in silence. Katara looked over at Aang, who was smiling down at Hiro, gently rocking him back and forth. Finally, Katara spoke up.

"Hey, Aang?" she said nervously.

"Hm?" he said acknowledging that he had heard her, but didn't look up from his son.

"Um, do you remember the other week when my dad wanted to spend a day with Hiro and Maya, and how we… uh… _spent time together?_" She saw her husband nod his head, unsure as to where this was going until Katara looked right into his eyes before saying just three more words: "I'm pregnant again."

The Avatar's eyes widened. "Pregnant? But… but how?"

"What do you mean _how_?" Katara laughed. The look on Aang's face was priceless. "Didn't I just bring that up?"

"I mean… didn't you _just_ have Hiro and Maya?" he asked, glancing down at their son. "Can you get pregnant right after having children?" On the inside, Aang _was_ happy that Katara was having another baby, but were they ready for another one so soon?

"The twins are four months old, Aang. It's not like they're newborns." Katara rolled her eyes in a playful way. "It's very possible to become pregnant, even right after having children. And besides, I thought you wanted to have more children to repopulate the airbenders."

Aang chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I know. It's just that… are we ever going to plan a pregnancy rather than having one sneak up on us like this?"

"Oh, I dunno…" Katara gave Aang a mischievous smile. "I kinda like surprises." For some reason, the way Katara looked at Aang at that moment made the airbender blush furiously.

The two of them placed Maya and Hiro back into their cribs, and Katara threw her arms around Aang's neck. He grinned seductively and held her by the waist. "C'mon," she whispered. "We have some free time."

* * *

That last paragraph was written by my wonderful beta, daydream11. If there's one thing I'm not good at, it's ending a story (I'm having even more trouble ending the epilogue). I kinda wanted it to end sappily, but the more I think about it, the more I like this ending. Kinda leaves a few loose ends hanging or something like that. Anyway, just so you know, in the first scene when Katara mentioned a man called "Hota", she was talking about the waterbending teacher for the advanced class. The teacher for the older children is named Kasumi. Just so you know!

As for the Epilogue, I'm having daydream11 look over the ending and see if she has any ideas for how it should end, and I'm going to be sending the whole Epilogue to her sometime in the next couple days. My ultimate goal is to have that out before the Avatar finale. (NEXT WEEK!) I'm sure I'll have this story finished by then! In the meantime, please review, and thanks much for those who have been reviewing!


	28. Epilogue

The following author's notes talk about the finale, but contain **no** spoilers.

The end is here; the Avatar Series _and_ this story. From what I've heard the series is going out with a bang (probably not literally). There was a non-spoiler review of the Sozin's Comet on ToonZone (there's a link to it on ASN), and they said that it was AMAZING! I can't wait!

Anyway, sorry about all these long author's notes throughout the chapters when you probably just wanted to read, so I'll leave you hanging no longer, but first, just one last big thanks to daydream11 for being my beta, and thank you all so much for reviewing and sticking with me throughout all this time!

Prepare for long-ass author's notes after the chapter! (Some of the notes contain additional info about this chapter.)

**Disclaimer:** Nothing has changed in the past 11 months when I started this story. I don't own Avatar, though I _do_ own the gaang's children! XD

(One last note: Please forgive me for the recycled names)

* * *

**Fifteen Years Later**

The citizens of Omashu were going about their day like nothing was out of the ordinary. If they had been paying attention, they would've seen the large bison, which was carrying many passengers, fly overhead. On the outskirts of the city, the bison finally landed in front of a large stone home. Twelve people jumped off Appa and made their way to the door. Before Katara could knock however, the door opened revealing a blind earthbender.

"Toph," Katara smiled as she and Toph shared a friendly embrace. "It's great to see you!"

"I would say the same, but…" Toph broke away from Katara's hug and waved her hand in front of her eyes, illustrating her point. Katara giggled. "Anyway, how many of you guys are there now?" The blind woman closed her eyes in concentration, trying to count the number of people standing before her. "I can feel fifteen heartbeats… One, I know, is Appa, I think Momo's on one of the kid's shoulders, and I'm guessing you're still pregnant, Katara? How far along are you anyway?"

The waterbender put her hand on her round tummy. "Seven months; I was five months pregnant when we were here a couple months ago, remember?"

"Sorry," Toph said, shrugging. "It's just hard keeping track of all of you. Anyway, come on in. Sokka, Suki, and everyone else is already here." The earthbender opened the door wider as Katara walked in, followed by Aang, who was holding a two-year-old boy, and then followed by their other nine children, one of them sporting a lemur on her shoulder.

"Here come the troops," Sokka said to no one in particular as he saw his sister, brother-in-law, and nieces and nephews enter the room.

"Aunt Katara! Uncle Aang!" Four children stood up from the couches and chairs they were sitting on to greet their aunt and her family.

"Hey Aunt Katara," a 19-year-old girl said as she approached her aunt. Suri had grown much in the past years. She still had the same mischievous eyes as she did when she was little, but her hair was much longer; about waist length, and she was more filled out. Katara smiled at the silver locket that Aang had made for Suri's fourth birthday dangling from her niece's neck, happy that she still wore it.

"Hello, Suri. How's it going?" the waterbender asked her oldest niece, pulling her into a hug.

"Everything's going great," she replied. "I'm thinking about going to Ba Sing Se University!"

"That would be wonderful!" Katara exclaimed happily as Suri smiled back and pat her aunt's belly.

* * *

"Hey guys!" Haru greeted as he entered the room. "When did you all get here?"

"Just a minute ago," Aang answered, adjusting his son in his arms.

"So, how was it traveling with ten children and a pregnant wife?" Haru smiled, looking over the Avatar's shoulder at his family.

Aang shook his head, preferring not to answer. Haru laughed at the Avatar's expense.

"Hey Aang," Sokka said to his brother-in-law. "I see you got my sister pregnant again. Why are you having so many children?"

"Well," Aang said with a smile, "_somebody_ has to bring more airbenders into the world, don't they?" It was apparent that Aang was no longer afraid of Sokka when the latter went into his 'over-protective big brother mode'.

Sokka decided not to comment on Aang's reply and instead looked down at his youngest nephew. "Hey Joh." Sokka smiled at the two-year-old who giggled as his uncle tickled his belly. "How's it going?" Joh grinned in response and nodded his head.

"So Aang, do you know if he's an air- or waterbender yet?" Sokka asked after a few moments.

"I don't know, but Katara thinks he'll be a waterbender." Aang shrugged. "She says his eyes are more blue than grey, but I'm not sure if that really means anything…"

"Hm…" Sokka said as he looked into Joh's bright blue-grey eyes.

* * *

"Hi Aunt Suki," two girls said in unison as they walked over to their aunt.

"Hello Kya, hey Kana." Suki took the identical twin girls into a hug. "Yue's been waiting a long time to see you two." She motioned over a dark-skinned, brown-hair, blue-eyed girl who was making her way towards them.

"Hey Kya, Kana, I wanna show you these Kyoshi fans my mom gave me!" Yue said, taking out two fans and showing them to her cousins.

"If you wanna play with those, Yue, go outside," Suki said firmly to her youngest child.

"Alright," the eleven-year-old replied. "Come on guys! Let's go!" Yue went outside, closely followed by the twin girls.

* * *

Tayo, Hiro and Maya had always been good friends; this probably had to do with the fact that they had spent most of their years together. The three of them had always got along very well.

"…So then I threw her off the mountain, 'cause, you know, she's an airbender and all. I thought it'd be great training!" Hiro shrugged as he told his cousin about a time when he and his sister were five and had just moved to the Southern Air Temple with the rest of their family.

Tayo didn't know whether to laugh or not, his eyes darting between the twins; one close to laughter, the other glaring at her cousin, as if she were daring him to laugh. "So, what happened then?" he asked, managing to keep a straight face.

"Well, Dad walked out just as I pushed her off, and he took out his glider and flew down to grab Maya, then he came back up and made sure she was alright."

"What did he do to you?" their cousin asked.

"Well, let's just say that was the only time I've seen Dad angrier than Mom… And it was twice as bad once Mom found out…" Hiro looked down, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, while Maya smirked.

* * *

Meanwhile, a girl of about seven entered the main room; she had shoulder-length black hair and big green eyes. She was halfway dragging her three-year-old brother into the room to her parents.

"Ah. Here they are," Haru said, noticing his two children approaching. "Jei, I thought you and your brother would be here once you heard all the noise!" He bent down to his children's height while addressing them.

"I tried to bring Tyro out earlier," Jei said as she held up her brother's arm, which she still gripped tightly. "But he heard the noise and was scared. I told him it was nothing to worry about, but I don't think he understood me." Jei looked at her little brother sadly. Like his sister and parents, Tyro also had black hair, but instead of the bright green eyes his sister had inherited from their father, he got the sightless pale green eyes from his mother.

"Come here, Tyro," Haru said with a weak smile as he picked up the blind three-year-old. "Don't be scared. It's just some old friends."

"Is Lana here?" Tyro muttered, referring to Katara and Aang's eight-year-old daughter who became friends with the young blind boy.

"Yes, Lana's here." Haru turned to his daughter, "Jei, will you please get Lana for me?"

Jei smiled and nodded. She too was friends with the young airbender. "Hi Lana!" Jei welcomed her older friend.

"Jei!" Lana turned from her older brother, Gyatso and her older sister, Lu Si, whom she had been conversing with moments before.

"Sorry to interrupt," she quickly gave a small bow to the other two airbenders before continuing, "but Tyro has been asking for you."

"I'll be right there." Lana said with a smile. Jei nodded and went back to her father and brother.

* * *

"Hey Kira!" A fourteen year old girl called out to her cousin, waving happily in her direction.

"Hello, Kaliste." Kira smiled at the airbender.

"How's everything going at the South Pole?" Kaliste asked.

"Cold," Kira shrugged. The two girls laughed.

"Cool!" Kaliste said, her words somewhat sarcastic.

"_Very!_" The two laughed again.

* * *

"Jei!" a five-year-old boy yelled, a large smile plastered on his face as he moved. The earthbender turned from her father, brother, and Lana to see Hakoda, a small boy named after his grandfather, making his way towards her.

"Hi, Hakoda," she said, going over to the young waterbender. "How's everything going?"

"Fine," he answered. "Mommy's teaching me waterbending!"

"That's cool," Jei said. "My mom started teaching me earthbending when I was about your age, too!"

"Is Tyro gonna learn earthbending too?" Hakoda said, glancing over at Tyro, who sat on his father's lap while Lana held his hand and talked to him softly.

"Uh-huh! Mom says she's looking forward to teaching him. She wants to teach him how to see through earthbending."

"Wow! That sounds cool!" Hakoda said. "I always wondered how Aunt Toph can see like that!" Jei nodded.

"It's pretty cool," she answered. "I'll explain it to you sometime."

* * *

Later that evening, the six adults and sixteen children gathered around in the large backyard for dinner. Toph had made a large table using her earthbending, making sure the table was long and wide enough to seat everyone comfortably. Once dinner was served, everyone took their seats and began eating. The table was buzzing with at least eight different conversations that were going on- gossiping, joking, sharing stories… anything they could think of.

"...Do you know if it's gonna be a boy or a girl?" Suki asked Katara, nodding toward the bulge in her stomach.

"Actually, we do," Katara said. "When Aang, the children, and I came here a couple months ago for Tyro's birthday, I asked Toph if she could tell me the gender."

"And...?" Suri, who had been listening in, asked from over her mother's shoulder.

"It's my third boy in a row." Katara smiled.

"Oh, how wonderful!" Suki said.

"Congratulations!" Suri smiled. "Any thoughts on names?"

* * *

"Nuh-uh,"

"I don't think so."

Kya and Kana were arguing with Jei about which type of bending is better.

"My mom says earthbending can beat the pants off any sissy element!" Jei said, completely convicted.

"Well, can earthbending do this?" Kana said as she bended the water out of her glass and started twirling it around her head.

"No, but it _can_ do this," Jei said as she kicked the ground beneath her bare feet.

"Ow!" Kya shrieked. "That hit my foot!"

"Yeah, I know," Jei said. "I did that on purpose."

"Yeah, and this is an accident!" Kya said as she sent a splash of her own water at Jei.

"Hey! You got me all wet!" she said, lifting up her arms and staring down at her soaked clothes.

"Wow, _nothing_ gets past you!" Kana smirked.

"Girls, _what_ is going on over there?" Katara asked from across the table.

"Uh, we were just showing Jei our waterbending!" Kya said. Kana nodded behind her.

"Well, _not_ at the dinner table." She frowned at her daughters, knowing there was more to it then they were letting on. "We'll talk about this later."

"Yes, Mom." The twins spoke in unison, glaring at their cousin Jei as she smirked.

"Don't think you're getting out of this one, Jei." The fact that Toph, her _blind_ mother, had the uncanny ability to look right into her eyes had always scared Jei. "I _know_ what you did."

"Okay, Mom. Sorry."

* * *

Dinner didn't take too long to clear off, as there were many people to help with the cleaning. Once all of that was done, the group went back into the house, back into the main room to chat for a little while longer before the two families had to go back to their own homes.

With 'Team Avatar' spread all over in different nations and with everyone married with children, it wasn't too often that the entire group was able to get together. Katara always thought to herself how nice it was, how every now and then, she and Aang would get together with their friends and family, keeping their bonds of friendship strong as they go through the many trials of life.

Back at their home in the Southern Air Temple, Katara sighed and leaned against Aang tiredly, who smiled softly and kissed her head. The fire blazed warmly in the background, adding to the cozy ambience of the full room. Joh soon came into the room and climbed into his parent's bed and nestled between the two of them, falling asleep as soon as he did. As Katara stroked his head, combing her finger through his hair, she closed her eyes and breathed in the wonder of life, going on.

The End

* * *

And there you have it. That's the end. Like the last chapter, I didn't know how to end this, so that last paragraph was written by daydream11 (though I did a bit of editing to it). I hope that wasn't _too_ overly sappy.

There are a few things I have to say about the children. I don't like making long-winded notes about things in the story that might bore you, so I'll keep it as short as possible…

First, Kya was named after what Katara's name in the unaired pilot was, until I watched The Southern Raiders and found out that Kya was Katara and Sokka's mother's name (I think her name came from the pilot). So now, I'll say the twins, Kya and Kana (both 11) are named after Katara's mother and grandmother!

Gyatso (12), Yue (11), Hakoda (5) and Tyro (3) were named after… well… I'm sure you can figure that out! XD Gyatso and Yue have their names for good reasons. There will be a one-shot about how Yue got her name, and possibly have one with Gyatso. And in case you didn't notice, the numbers in parenthesis are their ages.

I think some of you may not have known how to pronounce some of the kid's names. I gave Hiro and Maya's in the chapter they were born in (chapter 20), so they're not included. Anyway, here's the rest (and their ages): Kaliste (14) (Kuh-list); Lu Si (9) (Lucy); Lana (8) (Lay-nuh); Joh (2) (Jo/Joe); Kira (14) (K'eye'-ruh) (long I sound); Jei (7) (Jay)

Lastly, the benders: the waterbenders are Hiro, Kya, Kana, Hakoda and Joh. The airbenders are Maya, Kaliste, Gyatso, Lu Si and Lana. Both Toph and Haru's kids are earthbenders, none of Sokka and Suki's kids are benders.

**Info about the one-shots:** As I've mentioned before, I'm gonna be writing a series of one-shots called "LGO One-shots" or something like that (original, innit?) I don't know when exactly that'll be up. It can be anywhere from a week to a month. It depends… I kinda wanna take a break from writing, so I can't give you an estimate even if I wanted to (when have I ever been sure about when I get my chapters out?) But it'll definitely be after the Avatar Finale. So if you wanna read the one-shots, keep me on your author alerts!

Thanks so much for reading and reviewing. I really appreciate it. Enjoy the finale! I know I will! Please don't hesitate to send me a message or leave a review with any questions. I'm always affected by new Avatar episodes and I'm not thinking clearly, but I wanted to get this up before tomorrow! Thanks again!

-Summer


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